


Fluffcember 2020

by Attenreon



Category: NieR: Automata (Video Game)
Genre: Auroras, Baking, Bathing/Washing, Birthday, Christmas Fluff, Clueless 2B, Cuddling & Snuggling, Dancing, Devola and Popola ship them, Drama, Drinking, Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff, Grief/Mourning, Hair Braiding, Hurt/Comfort, Injury, Jealousy, Letters, Marriage Proposal, Mistletoe, Nightmares, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Painting, Scars, Sharing a Bed, Shenanigans, Shopping, Sloppy Makeouts, Slow Dancing, Tickling, Winter
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-01
Updated: 2021-02-10
Packaged: 2021-03-10 01:42:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 27
Words: 32,222
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27806278
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Attenreon/pseuds/Attenreon
Summary: Collection of 31 fluffy one-shots because we all deserve something nice at the end of this train-wreck of a year. And 2B and 9S deserve happy things in general.The lengths of individual one-shots may vary greatly.Inspired by this tweet: https://twitter.com/doop_doop2/status/1306753380182712321
Relationships: 2B/9S (NieR: Automata)
Comments: 191
Kudos: 196





	1. Sharing a drink

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Drinking and sloppy drunken make-outs. Sponsored by Devola.

”2B, look at this!”

2B turns around to see 9S, filled with excitement, holding a…

“What’s that?”

“It’s a bag of straws! According to the data I found in the archives, humans used to drink different kinds of beverages using these.”

“I thought they used glasses and bottles?”

“Well, yes. The straws have holes on both ends so it itself doesn’t hold liquid. They would put the straw into the glass, bottle, cup, or whatever and use the straw to suck the liquid into their mouths.”

9S’ eyes are covered by his goggles, but 2B is sure his eyes are sparkling with excitement, if that wide smile is anything to go by. 2B is more confused than anything else.

“Why not just drink normally directly from the glass?”

“Let’s see… Some people seemed to have medical reasons, but most of them were used for fun, I think.”

“I see. Humans are strange.”

“Perhaps,” 9S half-heartedly agrees and 2B begins walking towards their destination, 9S following close behind her, admiring his find.

“Anyway, do you want to give it a try?” he asks from behind her after a while.

“What?”

“Drinking out of straws.”

“We don’t need to drink now, much less with straws. Not to mention, it has nothing to do with our mission.”

“Aww, don’t be like that, 2B! It’s research about the human culture!”

“But it is not urgent. Focus on the task we’ve been given,” her tone is firm and it works in stopping him.

“Understood…” 9S mutters, dejected, and stores the straws into his bag.

She can’t deny the effect his disappointment has over her but she refuses to let him sway her determination to keep her distance. In order to keep that safety distance of not getting too attached, she must not indulge in his every whim.

… Yet, a quick glance at his face weakens her resolve significantly. His lips are pursed in dissatisfaction and 2B has seen 9S’ sad faces enough many times to fill in what’s hidden by his goggles.

As much as she wants to keep some distance, she doesn’t want to make him sad or upset either.

“We can see if we have time to do your straw research after we finish this mission,” she says without looking at him, focusing on the path ahead of her as not to trip on any stray rubble as she pick up speed.

Out of the corner of her vision she sees 9S perk up and smile and his steps get more energy than a moment before, following close behind her.

_____

They complete their mission of searching for signs of machine activity in far end of the city area. As Command had thought, there were several different machine lifeforms nesting and repairing their allies and they eliminated the threat as instructed with ease, ending with useful items to loot and only minor injuries on 2B.

It was nothing to be concerned about, but 9S insists that they should head to the Resistance Camp and steal a small rest before they’re handed down another mission. Having no other task to complete at the moment, 2B agrees and they set on their way. However, soon it starts drizzling. That alone wouldn’t have been an issue, but the rain quickly evolves into a deafening downpour bad enough the pods suggest they seek cover until the rain lets up.

Androids are built waterproof, so the rain itself won’t be enough to cause them any damage as long as no grave injury is exposing their wiring to the elements. Even so, extra weight of soaked clothing combined with the slippery concrete don’t make for an ideal environment to engage in combat, should the situation need it. 2B agrees with Pod 042’s suggestion and the two soon find a grumbled building sturdy enough to take cover in. There doesn’t seem to be any hostiles withing a 500-meter radius, but they decide to camp few floors up regardless, as higher ground would still be an advantage should hostiles appear.

With the pods’ blessing, they take off some of their clothes and their goggles to squeeze the excessive moisture out. 2B takes off her dress, leaving her in her white leotard while 9S takes off his thick jacket and shoes, his pants dry enough to wear still. 2B is slightly disappointed at that, but takes comfort in self-denial.

2B sits close to a broken window, listening to the sound of the rain and absentmindedly looking at the blurry scenery of a broken city. She can hear 9S shuffling with something behind her but pays it no mind until he calls out to her.

“Hey, 2B? Are you busy?”

“… Does it look like I am?”

“Um, right. I was just wondering that, well, since we have nothing else to do but to wait now anyway, would you like to try the straws now?”

“We don’t have anything to drink.”

“Well, we do have… one thing.”

9S takes a bottle out of his inventory and it takes 2B a second to recognize it.

“Isn’t that the bottle we received from Devola and Popola?”

“Yes.”

“What is it?”

“I’m not entirely certain, but I’m guessing it’s something that imitates alcohol.”

“Alcohol?”

“It’s a type of beverage that people used for relaxation and celebration for its intoxicating properties.”

“I see.”

“So, want to give it a try?”

“… Being intoxicated is unwise in enemy territory.”

“C’mon, pods said it’s fine! Machines don’t like to run around in the rain either and there isn’t anything hostile anywhere near us. Besides, a small amount shouldn’t have much of an influence anyway. We could just taste it and then leave it at that.”

Well, she did promise and if he says a small amount won’t be harmful, she trusts him. There is nothing else to do, after all.

“… Alright.”

9S looks surprised at her agreement and quickly digs out two straws out of the bag. The white straws are straight with the exception of an odd wavy portion, which 9S soon uses to bend the straws into an L-shape before putting them in to the bottle, with the shorter parts of both straws remaining outside the bottle, holding the straws from not falling in there.

“So far so good. 2B, you can try first. Take the tip of one of the straws into your mouth and just suck. Oh, but be careful not to inhale it down your windpipe.”

“Understood.”

2B sits down next to 9S and does as she’s told when 9S holds out the bottle towards her. She takes an experimental sip of the mystery liquid while 9S patiently holds the bottle for her.

… It’s not bad.

She sips some more until she has a mouthful of the slightly bitter but mostly floral sweet drink and gulps it down, feeling it warm her body she didn’t realize was slightly cold due to the cool air and humid weather.

Not the worst experience she’s had, to be completely honest.

“Well? How was it?”

“… The drink is alright. I don’t completely see the appeal of the straws though.”

“I see… I’ll give it a try too then.”

2B watches as 9S nibbles the straw she didn’t use into his mouth and take a small sip first, just like she had. It seems like he appreciated the taste too as his eyes go wide and he greedily drinks a couple gulps in one go before releasing the straw with a satisfied sigh and 2B has to consciously stop herself from smiling.

“This is delicious! I never thought you could make something like this out of roses. Devola knows her stuff, huh?”

“Seems so.”

“Want more?”

“… A little more wouldn’t hurt.”

9S gives her a wide smile and they both lean down to drink at the same time.

_____

They ended up finishing the entire bottle and… it shows.

The strange drink seemed to warm up her body and possibly even boosted her nano machines, because she felt her injuries heal at an accelerated rate. She wasn’t super happy about how unfocused her vision was, and somewhere at the back of her head she knew she should be concerned about it but right now, she couldn’t care less because she feels _good._

9S is pink on his cheeks and knees and he’s constantly smiling at her while talking about… 2B kinda lost track while admiring his knees, to be honest. His voice is still nice, and it soothes her even though he stammers and stumbles over his words a little.

“Two beee, you have a per… preta… pret-ty smile, y’know…”

2B, not trusting her own mouth in this state, decides to protest by weakly pushing at his shoulder, which just makes him giggle and lean his head on her shoulder in return.

“Your lips are pret-ty too…”

“So are y’knees,” 2B blurts out. Oh well, what is done is done.

9S looks up at her, surprised and possibly a bit redder than before. Her vision might be playing tricks on her though.

“Um, t-thanks. Yours are pretty too…”

2B lets out a small sound that might count as a laugh. It’s been a long time since she’s done that, and it feels pretty nice.

“Ery- Evetyrhing about you is so pretty, 2B…”

9S looks at her body up and down as if he was looking at the most valuable artefact and 2B’s body reacts by heating up wherever his eyes land on. Maybe that’s a side effect of the drink too? Eventually, 9S looks up into her eyes and moves his body closer to her, pressing himself against her side.

“2B…”

“What is it, Nine… es?”

His half-lidded gaze bounces back and forth between her lips and eyes.

“Can I try another human thing?” he whispers while leaning his face closer to hers.

“Okay,” she hears herself say equally quiet, her voice almost drowning in the sound of the rain.

“I… didn’t say what it was,” he mumbles with a small frown.

“Okay,” she repeats, a bit louder and stares into his eyes, as determined as she can muster, daring him to ask again.

He doesn’t, but instead he plants his lips on hers with a gentle caress. 2B responds by pushing her lips against his, and soon finds her arms wrapped around his neck to pull him closer. Encouraged, 9S’ hands cup her cheeks before going their separate ways, one tangling itself in the hair at the back of her head while the other travels down her side, sending delicious shivers across her body.

Their lips meet time and a time again, wet enough to make lewd sounds each time they separate for the sole purpose of meeting again, until 9S crawls over her and begins to pepper sloppy kisses down her body, drawing gasps and high notes neither of them knew she could produce on his way.

2B, out of a reflex, kicks her leg against something when 9S discovers a particularly sensitive spot and she hears the sound of a bottle sent rolling on the rough concrete of the age-old broken building floor.

The clattering sound ends soon enough anyway and 2B is too focused on _feeling_ to care what happened to it. Now the only sounds remaining are their heavy breaths and warm, heated, begging, urgent voices calling each other’s names – the deafening sound of pouring rain protecting their privacy from the rest of the world.


	2. Reassurances

Once they begin sharing a bed, 2B notices something that breaks her heart.

9S seems to have a lot of nightmares. Androids don’t dream the way the humans in the past would, imagining whimsical things that never happened and things that could never happen. Instead, android dreams are pieces of memories stored in their memory unit.

Which means that the nightmares that make 9S grasp at her clothes and cry in his sleep are forcing him to relive painful times 2B doesn’t know much of. 9S is reluctant to talk about the time she was dead and she doesn’t push him. She understands; she has her own share of emotional scars that still feel too raw to expose.

2B tries waking him up from it the first time. She succeeds after shaking his shoulders and nearly screaming his nickname for a couple of minutes. However, he acts distant, refusing to meet her eyes and moves to sleep the rest of the night in the now mostly abandoned bed at the other end of their room. That wasn’t what she wanted at all, and she wonders what else she could’ve done to make him feel better, to ease his pain just a little.

It doesn’t stop their routine of sharing a bed, to 2B’s great relief, and 9S crawls into their bed the next night just like any other time – with a smile and some good night kisses and cuddles.

2B loves sharing the bed with 9S. Seeing his warm smile before she enters her sleep mode reassures her that he’s there, alive and well, and loving her just as much as she loves him. Waking up and seeing his sleeping face first thing in the morning reminds her that he’s not going anywhere and that he’s here to stay, by her side, until the end of time. She wouldn’t change this sleeping arrangement of theirs for the world.

Still, his nightmares are taking a toll on her too. It’s not easy to sit and watch the person most precious to her suffer in their sleep, unable to do anything to help them. 2B is also worries that he might move back to his own bed permanently if she were to bring up the subject again. Maybe she’s being selfish, but she wants to keep him close, at least physically, even if he needs some space from her emotionally still.

_____

That night, 2B stirs again to the sound of 9S crying and to the feeling of his hand grabbing her shoulder with a generous amount of force. Nothing that will hurt her enough to even leave a mark, though somewhat uncomfortable.

9S whimpers and in the dark room, 2B can't see his tears but she hears them patter down on his pillow every few seconds. 2B can only listen to his misery helplessly, too afraid to even reach out to touch him out of the fear of waking him or worse, somehow making whatever he’s experiencing in his subconsciousness worse.

“2..B…”

Her eyes snap wide open at the sound of her name from his lips and something inside her shatters. Nines is calling out to her. That means her selfish concerns have no place in here anymore and, almost as if out of an instinct she’s sure androids shouldn’t possess, she does what feels natural; pulls him flush against her, pushing his face into the crook of her neck and wraps her arms and a leg around him protectively.

“I’m here, Nines,” she whispers with the gentlest voice she can possibly muster while holding him tight.

“… 2…B…” 9S whimpers her name again, his lips trembling against her skin.

2B’s actions must have evoked something in him as his hand moves down from her shoulder onto her back and squeezes her closer to him too.

She buries her nose into his hair and begins to pet his head with one hand while hugging him close to him with the other.

“I’m here. You’re okay.”

9S responds with a pitiful wail but 2B doesn’t let that deter her.

Not really knowing what else to do, she keeps whispering the same words to him, not caring in the slightest about how his tears and snot are making her neck and hair wet or how his hold on her back is bending her artificial spine painfully. She will do whatever it is that will make him feel better, whether he’s awake or not.

“I’m here… Shh…”

His hair is soft and 2B feels the act of threading her naked fingers through his locks to be therapeutic. It seems to work have a calming effect on 9S too, as his cries eventually grow weaker and his fingers digging into the small of her begin to relax.

Over the span of next several minutes, his crying weakens to a small sob before disappearing completely, his body relaxing against hers. The hand on her back loosens enough to not be painful anymore, but it keeps holding her close to him still as his breathing turns into restful, quiet puffs of air.

2B smiles into his hair, breathing in his scent and hugs him tighter for a few seconds.

“We’re okay. I’m here. I’m not going anywhere…”

2B keeps petting his hair and whispering words of comfort until she drifts off to sleep herself too.


	3. Hand-holding

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was originally a little bit too much sad and too little sweet so I made the obvious choice and added seagulls.

To 9S, it looks like nothing but a stain of rusty red on dirty concrete room. It’s safe to assume for it to be the remains of android ‘blood’, a brown-red liquid that courses through both of systems, although the blood on the concrete is now long dry and flaking. Similar stains were nothing uncommon in the area; after all, not that much time had passed since the war.

But 2B next to him stops in her tracks at sight of it and it doesn’t take 9S more than a second to connect the dots.

It must be his blood, or more accurately, the blood of one of the past versions of him. 2B is a soldier to the core, and she doesn’t tend to get shaken about the reminders of the war… unless it is somehow related to her secret duty of executing him.

The body is long gone; there used to be a unit of YoRHa in charge of retrieving the bodies of executed units and they must have fetched it soon after. The cleaning duty only included retrieving the body (to salvage spare parts) and destroying any evidence of it being a type E mission. However, some dried blood here and there was a pretty common sight during a war and wouldn’t arouse any suspicion for the possible targets, such as himself, and therefore the Command had deemed it unnecessary to spare the time or the resources to clean up simple bloodstains.

2B’s entire body tenses and 9S, eager to comfort her, walks up next to her and takes her hand in his. She startles at the initial contact, but some of her tension melts away when he gently laces his fingers between hers and gives her hand a comforting squeeze.

“Wanna go find flowers again?” he asks with a gentle tone.

Her hand squeezes back weakly, trembling just slightly in his, and 2B nods. She tends to get quiet whenever this happens and 9S knows not to push her. She will talk again when she feels ready.

“I think I saw some carnations on our way, not too far from here. How about those?”

She squeezes his hand again and 9S tries giving her an encouraging smile even though her eyes refuse to meet his. Gently tugging on her hand, he urges 2B to follow his lead.

When they reach the patch of pink flowers, 9S gives 2B’s hand one last squeeze before releasing it. With a deep breath, 2B crouches down and begins to carefully pick the flowers she finds the most untarnished, most beautiful. She even pauses to sniff some of them, probably picking the ones she thinks smell the nicest and adding them to her little bouquet.

9S gives 2B her space and stands back; after all, he’s not the one mourning. He settles on picking one flower a little further from where 2B is, like he always does, while waiting for 2B to finish.

They head back when 2B is done picking flowers, standing up and arranging them into a neat bouquet in her hands.

9S stays by the doorframe and lets 2B go in alone first. She sits down on her knees on the floor and gently lays the flowers on the cruel stain that was now the last physical memory remaining of someone she had held dear. She sits there for a while, gracing her fingers across the dried-up liquid, careful not to flake it further than what it was naturally doing already. 9S quietly watches over her, making sure not to intrude on her private ritual until she’s ready.

Her eventually standing up is his que, and he walks up next to her before crouching down and placing his single offering next to 2B’s.

“Thank you,” he whispers, closing his eyes and putting his hands together in a gesture humans used to make while praying.

_Thank you for taking care of 2B when I wasn’t there. Thank you for giving 2B memories to hold dear. Thank you for bringing me to her. Thank you for being born._

He stands up after paying his respects and feels 2B’s fingers intertwine with his, squeezing tight, as they spare a last moment of silence before leaving the place behind.

_____

2B eventually opens up and begins to tell 9S a story of this particular 9S as they aimlessly walk through the ruins of the broken city.

“He was really fascinated birds. We found a birds’ nest once, a seagull nest, at the coast. He wanted to go there between, and even during our missions if we happened to be somewhere nearby. He was always telling me it was important research when I reminded him that we have an actual assignment to work on and that the eggs can wait. Of course, he would listen to me and not go off his own way, but the next time he had the opportunity to go there he would take my hand and run so hard I was worried for our safety. Holding hands while running that fast and tripping could have been dangerous but… I was happy that he wanted to share it with me.”

2B smiles fondly at the memory and 9S smiles along too, massaging the back of her hand with his thumb.

“Did the eggs hatch?”

“Yeah. There were three of them and they were really… puffy.”

9S chuckles at her choice of words.

“Sounds cute.”

“They were!” 2B smiles excitedly, melting his heart. “So cute in fact, that 9S wanted to take a closer look. The mother seagull didn’t like that and attacked him. He panicked a little and tried to escape, shouting apologies to the mother bird…”2B’s lips twitch into a small grin. “He didn’t get hurt, but the bird did take his goggles.”

“Really?”

“Really. The next time we went there—”

“Wait, he still wanted to go back?”

2B makes a sound that almost sounds like a giggle.

“That’s what I was wondering too. But yes, he still wanted to watch them grow, apparently. So, the next time we went there he caught few small fish and tried to bribe the mother bird with them but… it didn’t work and it tried to attack him again. We did see his goggles in the nest though, and he decided to let them keep it and got himself a replacement. 21O seemed kind of annoyed about the whole thing.”

“I bet it made for a soft nest for the chicks, though!” 9S grins and 2B smiles in agreement.

“Yeah, I think so too.”

2B gazes up at the sky and watches a pair of sparrows fly high above them.

“9S, do you know how long seagulls live?”

“Hmm, I think they live around 20 years at least? Pod?”

9S turns to the help of his Pod. They have gotten oddly good at sensing the mood and tend to stand back and be quiet in moments like these, but they still diligently warn and guide them when necessary. Apparently, they also communicate silently between each other, but about what, 9S has no idea.

“Answer: Depending on the species, gulls can live between 10-30 years on average.”

“I see.” 2B says in a quiet voice. “I hope the chicks are doing good.”

“I’m sure they are. Maybe they even have their own babies by now.”

His words cause 2B to smile and hum happily.

“That’s a nice thought. I’m sure that would make him happy.”

They walk in silence for a while, not heading anywhere in particular but simply enjoying the gentle breeze and each other’s company, exploring the nearby areas they didn’t have the chance to during the war.

“Hey, 9S?” 2B asks. She doesn’t need to say anything else.

“Yeah.”

9S gives her hand a gentle squeeze and she returns the gesture with a soft smile mirroring his.

“Marking the location on the map,” Pod 042 announces and the two androids jog towards the coast – hand in hand and hearts just a little lighter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Flower language of pink carnations: “I’ll never forget you”


	4. First kiss

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I felt like putting in something festive too

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My only thought when I saw this prompt was that I want it to be initiated by 2B, since I feel like a lot of the time it's the other way around. Ended up being probably the dumbest thing I've written but I didn't want to take this prompt too seriously, because then it would definitely end up sad again lol.

Odd, that wasn’t there when they left a few hours earlier.

“Pod, what is that?”

2B asks her support unit, pointing at the strange green plant hanging above the doorframe of the room she shares with 9S.

“Analysis: It is a plant commonly referred to as ‘mistletoe’. Humans in some parts of the world had a tradition of hanging mistletoe on ceilings and doorframes during Christmas season to express festive spirit. According to the tradition two people standing under it are expected to kiss.”

“Kiss? What is that?”

“Answer: ‘Kiss’ is an act pressing one’s lips on something or someone. Humans are known to express affection through engaging in this behavior, most commonly by pressing their lips against that of another’s.”

“I see.”

Humans are strange.

Not interested in giving any more thought to the odd decoration, she enters the room to indulge in some much needed rest.

_____

“2B, I’m back! Sorry fo— Oh?”

9S, finally done with a personal shopping errand, comes into the room soon after 2B, only to find her already in sleep mode. As eager as he is to show what he managed to find, seeing 2B asleep with a serene expression makes him smile softly, the excited urgency pushed aside for now. They had been given one mission after another for days on end now, only giving them a couple of hours at a time to rest, at best. Many of the tasks had been demanding physically too (heavy lifting, fighting, even digging), especially for 2B since she is the muscles out of the two of them. She must have really needed this, even though she never lets her exhaustion show.

“Just as well, maybe I’ll have time to figure how to wrap this before she wakes up.”

9S smiles says to no one in particular. Originally he was just going to give it to her right away, eager to see her reaction, but now that he has to wait anyway he might as well try another tradition too.

_____

“Good morning, 2B! Or should I say merry Christmas?”

2B barely has time to open her eyes when 9S speaks up from next to her bed, holding what looks like a paper box in his hands towards her and smiling at her with poorly contained excitement. What does ‘merry Christmas’ mean anyway? The box only adds to her confusion, so she decides to start from there and points at it.

“… 9S, what is that?”

“It’s a Christmas present! Today is December 25th, Christmas day. According to the Old World data, it used to be a popular holiday among some humans, and exchanging gifts between family and friends was a common tradition, so…”

“Family or friends…”

She repeats quietly to herself.

“U-uh, I-I know we are supposed to maintain a professional relationship since we’re soldiers and all, and I know that emotions are prohibited and everything but I… I still think of you as f… um, as a friend, 2B.”

Guilt stabs her chest at his words and she doesn’t know what to say. Part of her wants to tell him how much she cares for him too, but… emotions are prohibited for a _reason._

“… Is that so.”

Either case, she can’t exactly refuse the present now that he looks at her so expectantly. She accepts the box, making him smile even wider.

It’s surprisingly heavy with thin string snaking over each side, tied together at top with a knot.

… She doesn’t know what to use it for, but she’ll treasure whatever 9S gives her.

“Thank you…”

“You’re not going to open it?”

2B turns to look at him, confused.

“Open it?”

“Well yeah, the present is inside.”

“Oh.”

2B purses her lips slightly, feeling silly for not realizing something like that sooner. 9S chuckles good-heartedly, making her feel both more embarrassed but also kind of happy to see him this gleeful. He deserves to be happy.

She carefully unties the knot and unfolds the paper, revealing a wooden box with a simple lid. 9S probably meant the present is inside this box? 2B gingerly places the paper and the string next to her on her bed before taking off the lid and peering inside.

It’s a small, ceramic…?

Noticing her confusion, 9S comes to her rescue once again, and tells her about the mysterious object.

“It’s a flower vase, although kind of a small one. I’ve noticed that you seem to like flowers, and while we can’t take any to our rooms in the Bunker, we have this room at our disposal now. Soo, I thought that maybe next time you see a pretty flower, we bring it back with us and put them in the vase and make this room a little bit cozier.”

“…”

9S… He always treats her with endless kindness, even when she tries her best to push him away, to force distance between them. Finding relics like these is not easy, and probably very expensive if he bought it from another android… All for the sake of showing her that he cares about her – in a way he’s not supposed to, in a way he’s not allowed to, in a way he _shouldn’t_.

And here she is, biting her lip, unable to express how much she cares for him too and how much she appreciates him because any words would feel like betraying him.

“Um… Do you maybe not like it?”

“No, that’s not it!” she quickly tells him, a bit louder than she intendent to.

That’s not it at all! He could give her a handful of dust and she would treasure it if he had gone through the trouble of picking it up for her sake.

It is moments like these when 2B wishes she was programmed with the same level of eloquence as her partner. Maybe there’s something she could do? She has always been better at herself with actions over words. Should she try to get him a present— Oh!

She remembers Pod mentioning something about this same Christmas thing 9S was talking about. 9S is interested in all kinds of human traditions, so maybe he’d be happy sharing one more with her? She places the vase on her bed next to paper and hurriedly grabs 9S’ hand and forces him to follow her to the door. She quickly slams it open and positions them so that they can both stand under the ‘mistletoe’ plant.

“H-huh? 2B, what are you— Mmph!?”

2B leans down and presses her lips against 9S’, effectively interrupting whatever he had to say. She hears a whistle somewhere, followed by Popola’s voice calling Devola’s name.

9S’ lips are soft against hers, surprising 2B. Then again, she had never imagined how someone’s lips would feel against her own. After a couple of seconds, she realizes she never asked the details from Pod 042, such as how long one is supposed to keep the lips pressed together. While she begins to consider her options, she feels 9S’ lips gently move against hers, his lips gently massaging her lower lip between them.

It’s… nice.

9S closes his eyes and 2B follows his example.

Interesting. Having your eyes closed almost seems to emphasize the pleasant feeling.

Figuring 9S knows much more about kissing than she does, she follows his lead and imitates his movements. His response is adorable – a quiet sound somewhere between a whimper and a moan that makes a jolt of electricity run through her body.

Pressing his lips harder against hers, his hands reach out to hold onto her shoulders. 2B can feel them trembling and, now concerned, she pulls back to take a better look at him, effectively ending the kiss.

“9S, are you okay?”

He looks red, so maybe he’s overheating? Now that she thinks of it, her body feels a bit warm too.

“U-um _, yes_ , but uh, 2B? Just… What was that?”

“A kiss.”

She thought 9S would know since he seemed to know how it works.

“Not that! I-I know what a _kiss_ is! I was wondering why you decided to do something like that o-out of the blue like that.”

2B points at the mistletoe.

“That’s a mistletoe. Pod told me this is a Christmas tradition too. Did I do it wrong?”

 _Well, dragging someone under one isn’t really how the tradition goes. Not that I mind,_ 9S thinks to himself while desperately trying to regain composure.

“Well, no. I was just… surprised that’s all,” he forces out with a shaky voice and a timid smile. 2B sighs quietly in relief. At least she did it right and, well, he seemed to like it.

“Hey, lovebirds! You have a room so use it!”

They both turn to look at Devola, 9S suddenly looking mortified while 2B simply tilts her head, not sure what Devola is acting so frustrated about. They _do_ use the room every day.

Suddenly 9S grabs her hand and pulls her back inside the room, closing the door behind them at lightning speed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> After this, 9S tells 2B a little bit more about kisses.
> 
> Devola is the one who put it up there (to tease 9S), but kind of regretted it when it looked like they might just start a full-blown make-out session right then and there if someone doesn't put an end to it, so she did.


	5. Reunited

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I briefly considered not picking the most obvious choice but then again, who can have enough of this particular scene?

_Commencing booting sequence._

Why is he booting up in the first place? How is that possible? Wasn’t he supposed to be dead?

His physical sensors start-up first and he can feel liquid dropping on his face. Rain? Possibly blood?

Internal system check announces that his audio processors are booting. It feels slightly slower than usual but 9S can hear something. It’s still sounds a bit distant but it… sounds like someone is crying?

The voice should get clearer when he finishes the rest of his booting, hopefully.

Visual sensors, no malfunctions detected.

_All systems check._

“Good morning, YoRHa unit 9S.” Pod 153 greets him, as it always does.

He groans lightly as he experimentally tries to move his fingers. A generous amount of time must have passed between his latest memories from the Tower up until now since his entire body feels this stiff.

“N-nine…s.”

His black box, that was humming slightly weaker than normal due to slow booting, immediately begins to whir louder inside his chest.

It couldn’t be…

“Where…”

He opens his eyes and once his eyes adjust to the glare of the natural light, his eyes go wide. Looking down at him is the face of someone he had so missed, two eyes same color as his brimming with tears, few escaping and raining down on his cheeks.

“2B… Just what…”

“I’m so glad… that you’re okay…” 2B whimpers through her tears, and despite how much everything in his body aches still, he reaches up a hand to wipe away a tear from her cheek. 2B leans into his touch, placing her hand on his, keeping it firmly in place on her cheek. His own vision begins to blur, which is odd. His visuals were working fine normally just a few seconds ago.

He blinks and warm liquid escapes them, clearing his vision for a second and thinks, _Ah_ , _I must be crying too._

“2B… Is it really you?”

She nods eagerly and hums in approval before sniffling. The pods confirm in their monotone tones too that yes, the person kneeling in front of him is in fact the same YoRHa unit number 2 type B that he is familiar with.

He doesn’t understand what is going on, but for once he casts his curiosity and questions aside. It can wait. The important thing is that by some miracle, 2B is alive and breathing right in front of him. That’s all that matter to him now.

Regrettably, 9S’ hand leaves 2B’s cheek to try and lift his upper back up into a sitting position. 2B notices this and reaches out to gently push at his back to help him, and her hand stays there, supporting him. Now, sitting face to face, he takes a moment to admire her.

She is a _mess_. Her hair is disheveled with small pieces of debris stuck on her strands. The normally pale skin in covered in stains and minor cuts and scars, her nose and the corners of her eyes red. Her rosy lips look paler than usual, trembling with each sob she makes. The icy blue eyes are swimming in tears, staring into his, overflowing with emotion.

She is so beautiful that 9S can’t help but smile.

“2B…”

He leans his face closer, resting his forehead against hers. Their eyes quietly gaze at each other while their hands busy themselves by slowly running up and down each other’s back, arms, shoulders, as if to confirm their existence, before finding their final home on one another’s cheeks.

“I… I missed you so much, 2B.” 9S whispers and gently nudges the tip of his nose against hers.

It makes her finally return his smile and 9S thinks this might be the most beautiful he’s ever seen her, with the tears and grime and all.

“I missed you too.”

She returns his gesture and lazily moves her nose against his and 9S closes his eyes, relishing the warm skin-to-skin contact with a happy hum.

“Hey, 2B?”

“What is it?”

Ever since finding out the truth about humanity, ever since he realized what 2B’s true assignation was, he had been searching for a meaning to keep going in this broken world. When 2B died, he learned the hard way that he had known it all along; the only purpose he has in his life is to be with 2B, to have all of her and to give her all of him too, until their black boxes eventually cease function.

9S opens his eyes to find 2B looking at him, her smile reaching her eyes, and he knows that this is where they belong, together – two broken androids in a broken world, finally free of the chains that used to force them apart time and time again.

He massages her cheek with his thumb, clearing away some of the dust, which comes off easy now that it's wet with tears.

There is nothing in the entire universe that 9S will allow to get in between them ever again.

"Marry me.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *slams fists repeatedly against a table * N O S E N U Z Z L E S!!!


	6. Sunset

”I like the sky here,” 2B says, maybe more to herself than anyone else, admiring the different hues of red, orange and pink. It reminds her of the paintings printed on a book 9S found a long time ago. The book was old; the pictures of the paintings worn and colors mostly faded, but the way the skies in those paintings had several different hues is similar to the sky above her.

She never felt like she understood the urge for artistic expression humans seemed to have… But when she looks at the dance of colors above her, she feels like she can understand why the wish to immortalize the beauty of this scenery on a canvas.

“It’s beautiful, isn’t it? Humans were lucky to witness something like this once a day. Or, well, at least whenever if the weather conditions were right for it.”

The hay field around makes waves in the wind, rustling quietly. They appreciate the view from a small rock on top of a hill, resting from another long day of travel.

2B nods and leans her head against his shoulder.

“Nines, what do you know about sunsets?”

She doesn’t ask because she wants to know – she’s more than happy just admiring it for what it is without thinking too much about it – but she asks because she wants an excuse to listen to his voice in this moment.

“Let’s see... The reason why sunsets are composed of different shades of warm colors – red and yellow and everything in between – is because the light has to travel a long way through the Earth’s atmosphere, and the blue light particles lose intensity during the trip. This leaves the stage for the red and yellow light particles and makes the sky appear in those colors.”

“I see,” she says quietly. She doesn’t actually really understand what he just said, but it doesn’t really matter.

“Is there anything else?”

9S gently rests his head on top of hers and hums thoughtfully, and 2B can feel the small vibration against her head. Almost like the purr of a cat, she smiles to herself.

“Well, there was a trend in human literature at one point to have the hero and the heroine ride off into the sunset at the end of a love story.”

“Why?”

“… I’m not sure. I’m guessing it symbolized their love; colors like red and pink were often associated with romantic feelings and passion. When the Earth was still rotating around its axis, sunset would mean the end of the day, so maybe writers thought it was a good way to bring a story to an end too.”

“I see.”

His fingers reach down to trail lines on the top of her hand and 2B snuggles her head closer to his neck.

“What did they ride on?”

“The hero and the heroine?”

“Mmh.”

9S uses one hand to lazily open his archives and skims through some examples.

“In the 19th century it was usually horses but in the 20th century cars, notably hoodless ones, became popular too it seems.”

“I see.”

She absentmindedly brushes her lips against his shoulder and closes her eyes.

“Too bad we don’t have either one of those.”

9S laughs quietly at that, making her smile against his jacket. His laughter is her favorite sound in the world, so beautiful and gentle, and it always makes her warm to the core.

“I’m sure we can get there on foot too, eventually. We have all the time in the world.”

She hums quietly in agreement, her body now too close to entering sleep mode to bother moving her lips to speak.

The last thing she feels before falling unconscious is the feel of his lips pressing against her hair, soft and lingering.

“Good night, 2B. Sleep well.”


	7. A journey

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This might be one of my personal favorites.

His finger begins its journey on her lower back, threading the edge of the blanket covering the lower half of her body, occasionally dipping just a little bit under it. He glides his finger back and forth, slowly, switching between the fingertip and the tip of his nail.

Eventually it leaves the blanket and makes its way towards the left hip, drawing lazy circles on its way on the pale skin. There it finds the first scar. This one is tiny and old, practically invisible, but he traces the small dip on her skin with adoration. A memory of the war against machines, she had told him the first time he discovered it. Gracing it softly with the tip of its nail, the finger swims upwards on her smooth back.

It’s not a long way until the next scar, located right beside the spine, a few centimeters above the one he traced just earlier. This is the biggest one out of all of the scars on her body, and still the most visible even if time has faded the angry red to a shade of ivory, almost matching her skin tone. His finger lingers on the soft tissue, running up and down for a few times before continuing its quest.

The scar on her right shoulder blade is probably the newest one, still slightly pink but not too big. It was kind of his fault. They were building their house. 9S was in charge of attaching the roof tiles while 2B was sawing planks of wood they would use to make a kitchen table with later. A course of unfortunate accidents made 9S lose his grip on one of the metal tiles, and it neatly glided down the finished part of roof straight down onto 2B’s back. While they were both starled by what happened, 9S himself borderline hysterical, 2B was built for war and something like a roof tile didn’t stand a chance of inflicting a serious wound on the ex-soldier.

But all that ends well is well, humans used to say. Eventually they finished building the house they’re now resting in. It had been worth all the work and minor injuries to have a place they could call their own; a home. He smiles fondly at the silly memory of not too long ago, drawing a slow circle around it.

The finger reaches a mark on her left shoulder much different from the scars. Round and red, it is definitely his personal favorite because he made it all by himself just the night before. It’s not the first one of these he’s made, and it won’t be the last. These small proofs of his affection don’t seem to stick around for long. While it is always disappointing to see one fade away, it gives him an excuse to make more at the next opportunity… which he usually doesn’t have to wait too long for.

Unable to resist the red mark’s charm, he leans down and places a soothing kiss on it, smiling into the skin, lingering. When he finally leans back, he finds a pair of half-lid eyes smiling at him.

“Mornin’,” she mumbles, still half-asleep.

“Good morning, 2B. Did I wake you?”

“Mmh, it’s alright. Feels nice.”

“I’m glad to hear that,” 9S says and begins to move his finger upwards again, tickling her neck and causing her to twitch her head towards his direction with a small yelp.

“Nines…” she shoots him an annoyed look, but her smile makes it a little less convincing.

“Sorry, sorry,” he chuckles softly, gliding the finger further up from the sensitive patch of skin and finally finding her face.

He draws a heart on her cheek, causing her smile to widen. The finger stops at the tip of her nose, giving it a soft poke accompanied with a small “boop”, earning him the most beautiful giggle in the world.

Then the finger changes direction, heading downwards to trace her jawline. The finger stops right below her chin and his thumb joins the adventuring index finger. Together, they gently tilt her face upwards.

Her lips smile against his.


	8. Artwork

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's ffxiv patch day so the proofreading was rushed, I'll fix and possibly edit a bit later if need to.

Year 11976. Humans have been extinct for thousands of years, much of their original footprints on the world long gone. The androids they created before vanishing have been protecting the few remaining relics the human civilizations had left behind, such as buildings, objects, and even their traditions to some extent. Unfortunately, the multiple wars against aliens – followed by wars against machines created by said aliens – and the passage of time have destroyed most of the things humans themselves created.

Androids, programmed to love and treasure their creators, try their best to recreate what has been lost, and while they can copy the layouts of building and they can imitate their creators’ behavior to some extent, more creative things such as art, music and dead languages are impossible to recreate perfectly.

Which makes what 9S and 2B find in an old cave that much more precious.

“Pod, is this… a cave painting?” 9S asks, his voice a whisper out of sheer amazement.

“Correct. Estimated time of creation 40,000 thousand years ago.”

“40,000 years?! Wow… It’s still so clean too. Humans were amazing…”

2B follows 9S’ gaze and admires the pictures painted over the walls; intricate depictions of what look like animals, although which ones, 2B isn’t too sure.

40,000 years… That was long before their modern civilizations. It really feels like a miracle that humans who only had primitive tools at their disposal managed to create something so beautiful that has lasted much longer than their most modern architecture.

2B wouldn’t believe it had they not witnessed what humans called the Great Pyramids a year earlier. According to the pods and their extensive database archives, the shape or the size of the old pieces of human architecture hadn’t even changed too significantly from when they witnessed them compared to how the last humans saw them. Apparently, stone is a lot sturdier than the materials modern civilizations tended to use, such as metal or concrete.

9S resists the urge to touch the paintings, knowing full well that each touch would only speed up the process of destruction of this magnificent relic their creators had left behind long before they could even _imagine_ androids.

“9S, is that a boar?” 2B speaks up, pointing at a four-legged animal with two distinct horns on its muzzle.

“Uh, I don’t think so.”

Pod 042 provides the information from the database.

“Correction: The animal in question is thought to represent a rhinoceros. The species has been extinct for almost 9,000 years.”

“I see…”

They spend a while walking through the cave, admiring the ancient art in silence. For 2B the silence isn’t anything too uncommon, but it’s quite rare to witness 9S being rendered speechless. Not that it’s that surprising, given the mixture of emotions he must be going through, from the amazement of the artwork itself to the painful longing for their creators who no longer exist.

“If only we androids could make something like this too…” 2B whispers to herself, which seems to pull 9S out of his daze.

“… What if we could? I mean, the humans who made this only had primitive ingredients for paint at their disposal, so the odds are that we can find the things we need to create the paint in the nearby area.”

9S looks at her, tentatively excited about the idea, but 2B is still unsure.

“But we don’t have imagination like humans did.”

“… That’s true, but do we really need imagination? These humans immortalized the animals that they saw and hunted, what if we just recreate something concrete as well?”

“Like what?”

“I was thinking… Maybe we could paint each other?” he suggests, voice hesitant and the tiniest of blush adorning his cheeks.

Considering how long they have been together, 2B finds it heart-warming how 9S still seems to get embarrassed by silly things like this. She can’t help but smile at him.

“… I don’t know how well I’ll be able to paint you, but we could try that.”

With a wide smile, 9S asks the pods for instructions on how to make the paint.

_____

Turns out they only had to burn a few logs of wood to make charcoal to mix with some water to create primitive paint. Some of the other options included finding minerals, which is no easy task after thousands of years of humans mining them, leaving most of the minerals significantly harder to find that what they most likely were 40,000 or so thousand years ago.

After enjoying the warm fire outside the cave in the land of eternal dawn (9S didn’t want any of the particles released into the air get in the cave for preservation reasons) they finally had their charcoal. They were carrying water on them at all times so they had that covered, and a nearby river will help them refill before they continue their journey.

They settle on a spot in the cave far away from the nearest manmade cave paintings and set to work. 9S paints 2B first, using his finger to spread black paint over the wall. They could possibly try painting based on a memory file of one another but switching attention between sight and memories constantly sounds like a pain.

In a half an hour of meticulous work, 9S declares he’s done. Not bad for a first-time painter, if he dare say so himself. While recreating miniscule details with his finger is impossible, he manages to capture her figure and basic features good enough for anyone who knows 2B to recognize her. Even her small beauty mark is visible on the painting.

“… That’s really good.”

9S lights up at 2B’s praise.

“You really think so? I think I did alright, although my stubby fingers and this primitive paint isn’t really enough to capture the real scope of your beauty,” 9S gives her a small grin.

“… Silly Nines,” 2B mumbles, trying to hide her embarrassment but little success.

“Anyway, it’s my turn. Stand still.”

9S does what he’s told… for about five minutes.

“Nines, keep looking this way.”

…

“Nines, stop doing that thing with your leg.”

…

“9S, put your arms back down!”

Hearing her resort to call him by his real name makes him flinch.

“I’m sorry 2B! I don’t like being still with nothing to do...”

“I noticed.” 2B says, annoyance evident in her voice and face. A quick glance at his apologetic face immediately makes her expression soften.

“Please bear with me for a little while longer, I’m almost done. This was your idea in the first place,” she offers in a gentler tone.

“Yeah, yeah. Oh, Pod? Can you play some music?”

“No! You’ll start tapping your leg.”

“Fiiine.”

_____

After what felt like forever to 9S, 2B is finally finished with her work. 9S eagerly studies the painting and quickly notices that 2B had managed to paint just as well, if not better, than him. Even the cross on his choker is visible in the painting.

“Ooh, you did better than I thought!”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Ah-, nothing, sorry about that.”

Well, neither one of them was programmed for such creative purposes so it only makes sense that they’re pretty much on the same level, 9S thinks while inspecting her painting of him.

2B, still a bit offended that 9S didn’t seem to have faith in her artistic abilities, purses her lips and pokes her finger, still covered in the charcoal paint, against his cheek.

He yelps and uses his unmarred glove to wipe off the paint dot but only succeeds to spread it more.

“Twoo beee, that’s so mean!”

“I was painting,” 2B says, trying her best to maintain a straight face but her lips are twitching upwards just slightly. She’s gotten really bad at covering her emotions now that she hasn’t had the need to for years.

9S pouts at her before glancing down at the leftover bowl of paint.

“Oh yeah? Now that I think about it, I think I still have something I want to add,” he says with a grin, quickly dipping his entire hand in the paint and reaching it towards 2B.

2B’s eyes widen when she realizes what’s about to happen and she takes a step back.

“Nines! No, stop, I’m sorry—”

But it was too little too late. 9S ignores her pleas and manages to paint five black lines across her left cheek. He was going for a hand print, but this is works too.

“Ah, beautiful. Humans would be jealous.”

The sticky substance feels uncomfortable against her cheek and she glares at the smugly smiling 9S.

Before 9S even knows what’s happening, his back meets the cave floor and 2B swiftly straddles his hips, effectively trapping him with no means of escaping. She grabs the bowl of paint and 9S watches in horror as she raises it above his head.

“2B, no—!” his words are interrupted as 9S is forced to close his mouth when 2B pours the rest of the paint over his face and hair in one go.

Quickly wiping his eyes and mouth, 9S groans.

“Agh! 2B! I don’t know if I’ll be able to wash this out of my hair!”

“Don’t worry, you look cute with black hair too,” she smiles down at him, obviously feeling damn proud of herself.

“T-that’s not the point, jeez…” he attempts to complain, but his smile gives his real feelings away.

9S runs both of his hands, even his still gloved one, over the paint covering his hair to gather left over paint and attempts to smear any part of 2B he can reach, resulting in an odd wrestling match that leaves them both yelping, laughing and rolling on the cave floor.

Once they exhaust themselves (and the paint dries too much to use anymore) they call truce and lay next to each other, gazing at each other with wide smiles, both covered in the dark paint all over. Well, at least their clothes are mostly black anyway.

9S is the one to break the comfortable silence.

“Soo, what now? Want to paint something else?”

Before 2B has a chance to answer, Pod 042 speaks up from above them.

“Proposal: You have not yet painted Pod 042 or Pod 153.”

9S turns his face to look at the floating Pod with a small grin. “That’s not really a proposal though.”

“Proposal: Take the hint.”

9S and 2B share amused smiles before getting up.

Time to make more paint.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The location they’re visiting is Chaveut Cave in France.


	9. Recovery

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: includes a somewhat detailed description of broken android body parts.

“Can you feel this?” he experimentally bends one of her fingers upwards and applies some pressure on it with his thumb.

“No.”

“Not yet either, huh… What about this one?”

“No.”

“Worth a shot…”

One of the first things 9S had noticed about 2B after his miraculous reawakening was her hands, and it had filled him with despair.

Her gloves had worn out to the point they were no longer even covering her fingers. The naked fingers were covered in injuries, the artificial fingernails and skin destroyed by what he later learned was excessive digging. Without the skin or the gloves to protect themselves, the inner wirings of her fingers had been left exposed to the elements (and to her desperate digging because she hadn’t been done yet), resulting in grave damage to the structure, wiring and the circuits, causing them to slowly deteriorate and lose function.

2B could no longer move the individual fingers, nor could she feel anything with them anymore. Without the utility of her fingers, she wasn’t capable of doing much anymore, much less fight. 9S thanks all the possible gods in the universe that the war had ended before all this, because without her fingers, 2B is mostly defenseless, even if she can still deliver a mean kick if needed.

Now with the Bunker fallen, the only choice 9S had was to try to recreate the fingers with the pods’ assistance and the spare parts they could get their hands on in the Resistance Camp.

It took them a couple of months of intricate work, but 9S was finally able to make her fingers look nearly the same as they had before. Unfortunately, the bigger issue was, and still is, the extremely damaged wiring and the lack of skills and the right tools to work to operate on such small parts. He was a Scanner type, and while he was capable of basic physical maintenance, he was still no Healer.

That being said, 9S wasn’t just going to give up simply because this wasn’t his area of expertise. With Devola and Popola gone too, 9S was possibly the closest thing to an actual healer left, and therefore still their best bet.

He will fix these hands that 2B sacrificed for the sake of seeing him again. Even if it takes years. Even if he has to build a spaceship first to get to the Moon to see if the moon server has some answers on how to fix her fingers. Hell, maybe there are still program files surviving that would allow him to reprogram himself into a Healer type. He is willing to do _anything_ to fix these hands that brought him back to her.

9S sighs, trying to hide his disappointment that all of his hard work was seemingly leading nowhere.

“The maintenance didn’t reveal any issues in the programming, so it might be a compatibility issue. Some of the replaced wires aren’t exactly the same as YoRHa blueprints, so it could be that the nanomachines can’t recreate the neurological paths to the foreign wiring. I was hoping that it was simply hindering the nanomachine work and causing the process to be slower than with standard wiring, but it has been 80 days now with zero progress, so… Maybe the parts are simply not compatible with the nanomachine technology.”

2B listens to his words with an unreadable expression.

“What next?”

“Well, we can try to see if we can find the materials needed for the YoRHa-patented components but making the exact metal mixture to craft them would probably take a long while, since we would need to create the facilities needed first. Although, the equipment in the factory might give us a little shortcut there if we’re lucky. We could also still try looking for remains of YoRHa units and see if we could find one with no logic virus contamination but, well…”

Both of them know that’s practically a lost cause at this point.

“Any case, it will probably take a while until we can get to the next step so we can just leave your fingers as they are. Who knows, maybe by some miracle the nanomachines will eventually start patching up the lost connections anyway.”

“Maybe…”

2B’s looks at her hands resting in his. 9S has a feeling she feels much worse about the situation than she lets on, but he doesn’t push it.

“Thank you, Nines, for working so hard on this.”

9S gives her a small smile. “I’m the one who should be thanking you, 2B. Me working my butt off to fix your fingers is the least I can do after what you did for me. Besides…” 9S softly massages the back of her hand with his thumb, “This might be just me being selfish, but… I want you to be able to touch me with your hands too. I want to feel you hold my hand, to feel you caress my cheek and to hold me… I will do whatever it takes to feel your touch again.”

2B smiles at that weakly, but it doesn’t quite reach her eyes.

“Me too…”

“Ah well, I’ll still check them daily for progress from here on too. Doesn’t hurt to make sure.”

He leans down to kiss the fingers, as he always does at the end of these maintenance sessions. The second his lips make contact with her middle finger, 2B startles suddenly.

Two widened pairs of eyes meet.

“2B, did you…?”

“… I-I think so.”

9S breaks into a wide smile and excitedly tries again, with a little more pressure this time. The finger twitches under his lips, just barely, but it still counts.

2B’s eyes fly back and forth between her finger and 9S, eyes sparkling.

“I felt it! It’s still faint, but I definitely felt it!”

The seemingly miniscule reaction of her finger is a huge leap forward in the healing process and 9S feels all the stress he’s been trying his best to hide unravel at once. If this finger is reacting, the odds are that the nanomachines are working after all and it’s only a matter of time before the rest of her fingers follow the suit. It might take a while until her fingers will make full recovery, but fortunately time is the one resource they have plenty of.

Unable to contain himself, 9S bursts into excited laughter and jumps off his chair to hug 2B tight, pushing them both down on the bed. She joins him in his laughter as she wraps her arms around him, a single finger is slightly pressing against his back, holding him closer.


	10. Dreams

”2B?” 9S calls her name one night while they are lying in bed, facing each other as they prepare to enter sleep mode.

“What?”

“Do you have any dreams?”

2B blinks. “Dreams? You mean in sleep mode?”

“Uh, not that. But like… things you want to do in life.”

Lately, or more like ever since he rebooted, 9S had been wondering what to do from here on out. While androids were programmed to have a level of free will, they hadn’t really had too much time to plan a future or to think about their own lifegoals when they were constantly being deployed on missions.

Now the war is over and there is no one to give them any orders. It’s nice being able to choose for yourself but… 9S isn’t sure where to start.

“… I want to go fishing tomorrow. Does that count?”

9S blinks before breaking into an amused smile. Adorable as ever.

“That’s probably a little different. I think dreams are supposed to be things you want to be able to do someday, but can’t do yet for one reason or another, so you work hard to fulfil the dream eventually. Do you have anything like that?”

“I see.” Her eyebrows knit together while she thinks. “I don’t think I have anything like that anymore.”

“Anymore?”

2B lowers her gaze down to his chest, covered by a simple white shirt. She places her left hand on where his black box is quietly humming underneath, her cheeks tinted pink as the corners of her lips turn slightly upwards into a small smile.

“… I finally get to do all the things I always wanted to do. I don’t need anything else.”

Her sheer cuteness will be the end of him one of these days, 9S thinks as his black box momentarily overheats at her words.

“Twoo bee!” Not knowing how else to relieve his hard-working black box, he wraps his arms around 2B and squeezes her close. 2B yelps in surprise at first, but quickly melts in his arms, her hands wrapping around his back to return the gesture.

“What about you, Nines? Do you have dreams?” she mumbles into his chest.

“Hmm… I think I’m happy with the way things are now too, like you.” He wonders out loud, burying his chin in her hair while he looks behind her, his eyes scanning the dark room, illuminated by a small night light. “But maybe… Maybe I would want to build a house someday.”

“A house?”

“Yeah, for the two of us. I feel bad about hogging this big room here in Resistance Camp, but I still want us to have our privacy. So… yeah. I guess my dream would be to build a house.”

2B nuzzles her face into his chest. “That sounds like a nice dream. Where would you want to build one?”

“Maybe in somewhere in the forest? It’s nice and quiet there, and I’m sure we could find a spot that’s not in anyone’s way.”

“I like that. There are many places to fish there too.”

9S chuckles at that. She really loves fishing, alright.

“That settles it then. I’ll ask the pods what we need tomorrow.”

She nods against him, and soon after they drift off to sleep, arms still wrapped around one another.


	11. Bathing (Swimming)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Took the liberty of changing the prompt since swimming doesn't sound super feasible for androids. Bath time fun it is!

2B finally agreed to take a bath now that the war was over. 9S had suggested one several times over the course of their partnership, but she always dismissed it with “Androids don’t need baths” or “Showering is more efficient”. But this time, she simply replied to his suggestion with a simple “sure.”

At first, 9S was taken aback because of her unexpected agreement but the initial shock soon turned into glee. He took her to the small bathroom at the far end of the Resistance Camp and prepared the bathtub for her, explaining how bathing works with undeniable excitement in his voice.

“Alright, the water should be good temperature and I added the soap, which is why it foams a little. Whenever you’re re—AGH!”

He turns around to see that 2B was ready alright, and quickly averts his eyes. Not that it helps too much, her naked figure now forever imprinted in his memory.

“I can get in the bathtub now?”

“Y-yes, please do.”

9S stands still with his eyes closed as he waits for 2B. Quiet patter of her steps across the room is soon followed by a gentle splashing sound of her settling in the tub. 9S sighs in relief, naively believing his trial is over.

“Well, you enjoy your bath then. When you’re done, you can just unplug it to let the water drain. I can come clean it afterwards.” 9S prepares to leave to give her privacy when a hand suddenly grasps his sleeve. He turns his head and finds 2B looking up at him.

Her eyes are gorgeous without the visor.

“You’re not going to join me?”

The simple question nearly makes him spontaneously self-detonate.

“Hwa— U-um, you— you want me to?!”

“… You don’t have to force yourself if you don’t want to.”

As if! There aren’t many things he wants in life more than sharing a bath with 2B, but it sounds too good to be true. Hell, he wouldn’t be surprised to wake up soon and find out all of this was just a dream.

Dream or not, he’s not going to let an opportunity like this just slip away.

“NO, no! I’ll join you, hold on just a sec!”

9S has never undressed this fast in his life. He throws the unneeded the pieces of garment in random directions away from the tub, eager to get in the tub before 2B changes her mind. Or before he wakes up.

Yet, even though he managed to undress with great vigor, the thought of standing all bare in front of someone, not to mention someone he… well… It’s embarrassing, alright?

“Um… 2B? Could you maybe close your eyes?”

“Why?”

“Just… humor me. Please?”

“… Okay.”

He makes sure she’s not looking (while avoiding looking anywhere else), he slowly dips his toe into the opposite end of the tub, confirming the temperature of the water, and carefully slides in. A fair amount of water splashes out of the tub as he does. No wonder, he had filled it thinking only 2B would be using it, but oh well. He can just wipe it afterwards. They will just have to be careful when they get out to make sure they don’t slip on the wet floor.

9S looks up and sees 2B across from it, patiently keeping her eyes closed. Her hair is only wet at the ends, a single drop of water trailing down her neck towards her collarbone…

His face heats up and he has a feeling it’s not just the hot water. He moves around to hug his knees close to his body and hides his face on top of them before telling 2B it’s okay for her to open her eyes now.

“… What are you doing?”

“… Enjoying a bath with you.”

Small waves of bath water caress his skin as 2B shifts on her side.

“Are you sure? You don’t look very… comfortable.”

Her tone sounds worried. 9S carefully peeks at her expression, still feeling too embarrassed to lift his face that must be burning with all the shades of red imaginable. She’s staring right back at him, lips drawn into a thin line and her thin eyebrows frowning just slightly. He averts his gaze as he tries to explain himself.

“… I’m alright. I just— I don’t want to invade your… privacy.”

“… You can look at me.”

Suddenly 9S feels her toe gently poking his calf and startled, he finally lifts his face.

“Two b—”

2B smiling at him softly, her cheeks and shoulders tinted rosy pink from the warm water.

She’s breath-taking and 9S doesn’t trust his voice to say anything. Instead, he tentatively returns her smile and lowers his make-shift knee barrier, slowly stretching his legs out in the tub with the help of a calming deep breath. His legs brush against hers, but 2B shows no signs of shying away from his touch, allowing 9S to relax a bit.

After a few seconds of serene silence, 2B asks,

“Do you have the sponge?”

“Oh, right!”

9S reaches over the edge of the tub, grabbing a sponge from the little stand next to it and offers it to 2B.

“There’s only one, you can wash up first.”

“Okay.”

2B accepts the sponge and begins to scrub her skin clean of any impurities. Her movements are fluid with certain elegance as she moves the sponge around her body, and 9S is absolutely transfixed by it.

9S is acutely aware that he’s staring now, but she _did_ say he’s allowed to look and there isn’t much else to do.

9S’ eyes follow the sponge as it finishes scrubbing her leg emerging from the water, before moving towards her abdomen as the leg disappear underwater again. The sponge trails her side, her chest, up her neck to her cheek—

2B’s eyes meet his and he realizes he’s been caught. However, the small, bit mischievous smile lets him know she doesn’t mind.

“Do you think you could do my back?”

9S’ throat feels dry, but he nods anyway, holding her gaze. She passes the sponge to him and crawls closer, until their noses almost touch. She then sits almost on his lap, turning around to expose her pearly white back to him.

Without a word, 9S gets to work, hoping that the way his hand trembles doesn’t reach over to her through the sponge. She hums appreciatively at his gentle massage, and encouraged by this, 9S ends up scrubbing her back far longer and more thoroughly than necessary.

Not that either one of them complains.

“I think that should be enough. Thank you, Nines.”

Hearing his nickname fall from her lips in a situation like this makes him shiver regardless of the warm water.

“A-anytime.”

“I’ll do yours now, turn around.”

9S has always listened to what 2B tells him to do, and he’s not about to stop now.

He turns around but startles when he suddenly feels two hands caressing his back instead of the soft sponge.

“You okay?” 2B asks softly so close to his ear that her breath tickles it gently.

“I-I’m good.”

She’s _so_ doing this on purpose, which makes it all the more exhilarating. 2B changes between massaging his back with her palms to gently scratching it up and down with her fingernails and it’s about to drive him crazy.

Her fingertips trail his sides and 9S jumps with a high-pitch yelp, and instinctively curls on himself.

How embarrassing.

“Sorry, did I hurt you?”

“N-no, it just… tickled a bit. Sorry about that, you can keep going.”

“…”

2B remains silent and still for a few seconds. Worried that she might think she accidentally hurt him, 9S turns his head to reassure her—

But is quickly startled by her fingers tickling his sides again.

“AAH! AH! 2B, wait—AHHAH HAH!”

The ferocious attack on his sides makes him splash and twitch in her arms, unable to do anything else than let his body succumb to its reflexes and laugh unwillingly while 2B tickles him mercilessly.

Thankfully, 2B ceases her attack soon after only a few seconds and 9S turns to look at her with disapproval.

“Twoo beee, that’s mean.”

“I’m sorry. You made such cute sounds I couldn’t help myself.”

She’s biting her lip and doesn’t really look all too apologetic, honestly. Probably trying to hold back giggles, 9S guesses.

Fine, if she can do it, so can he.

Petty revenge makes 9S forget about self-consciousness and decency as he quickly turns around to lunge into 2B’s arms, reaching her sides with his fingers and aggressively tickling the skin.

2B didn’t expect the sudden shift in 9S and yelps as his fingers land on her sides. Just like him a few seconds earlier, she’s reduced to a trashing, giggling mess while 9S grins at her. Of course, 2B is much stronger than he is, and she soon gets a hold of his wrists, yanking them upwards from her sides. This causes 9S to lose balance and fall on her with a splash, their bodies now pressed flush against each other, his hands holding onto her shoulders for support. 

His breath is heavy and hot against hers, their faces only inches apart. Unable to resist any longer, 2B releases his wrists in order to pull his face down to close the little distance remaining.


	12. Music

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It might be a little rough since it ended up being longer than I wanted and I don't really have the time to polish it now.

9S has been acting strange lately.

He’s been going off on his own more and more lately. Sometimes he says he’s helping someone organize data, or that he’s off to collect some pearls because someone needed them, or that he’s going to deliver something to the desert camp or to Pascal.

They are more than used to running errands, but the part that makes 2B kick the rocks at her feet as she aimlessly walks the broken city is that 9S always tells her to stay behind.

_“It might take a while, I don’t want to bore you.”_

_“Don’t worry about, I can do something as simple as this on my own. You can just relax and do whatever you want, maybe go fishing? You can show off your biggest catches to me afterwards!”_

It’s almost as if he’s avoiding her and it… hurts.

It’s been several months since 9S woke up. Their relationship had obviously changed now that he knew her real designation and now that she didn’t have to act on it anymore. 2B had been scared that he would leave her once he found out but he didn’t; he treated her the same as before. Actually, that might not be true. If anything, he has been treating her with even more kindness than ever, treasuring her and always making sure all of her needs are met.

Now closer than ever, they found any reason to touch each other. Sitting closer to each other than necessary when they fished. His hand lingering on hers after checking her fingers. She would run her fingers through his hair because she saw a leaf; sometimes she would lie there was one just to for an excuse to do it again. Fingers brushing against the other’s as they walked side-by-side.

They didn’t use their goggles as much anymore so more often than not, there would be some stolen glances from both sides. So many smiles; happy, shy, soft.

She really thought that he had forgiven her, and that he… cared for her, the way she cared for him too. She figured that sooner or later one of them would have the courage to take that final step and well…

Yet, now 9S avoiding her. He still acts the same whenever they are together, which makes it all the more confusing.

_____

When 9S leaves on one of his mysterious solo errands again, he drops a name of a Resistance member. 2B doesn’t want to think that he’s actively lying to her, but when he’s still not back hours later after he had gone on what was supposed to be a quick and simple errand, 2B decides to ask the person if they knew what’s taking him so long.

“What errand? I asked 9S to help me out with some data I found the other day, but he said he was a little busy now and that he’d get back to me later.”

2B’s stomach drops at her words. Worried, she turns to her pod, who tells her before she even asks,

“YoRHa unit 9S, black box signal normal. Marking location on the map.”

He should be fine, but just in case 2B heads towards the location in the forest.

_____

According to the map, 9S is sitting still, practically unmoving at the castle entrance. Pod 042 assures her he’s safe, which makes 2B relax, if only slightly. It still doesn’t change the fact that he’s obviously hiding something from her and she wants to know what.

She runs across the bridge and scans the castle front area, quickly locating a familiar head of white hair and the smile she so adores.

“Ni—”

He’s not alone. Based on the clothing it’s easy to tell the person in question is someone from the Resistance Camp. The waterfall drowns out what they are talking about, but 2B can still hear that it’s definitely a female.

9S looks so happy. So does she.

2B never thought seeing him smile could ever be _painful_.

Why would 9S hide something like this? He’s completely entitled to choose who he wants to be with. It’s not like she even has the right to even _wish_ for anything after all she’s done him over the years. But… she still thought that maybe…

Clenching her hands into fists to the point where her fingertips painfully dig into her palms, she wonders if she should just leave. However, 9S notices her before she has the chance.

9S smiles and waves at her the way he always does. The innocent gesture feels like a kick to her stomach and the next second, 2B is running away as fast as her legs can take her.

_____

There’s no point in trying to hide, 2B knows that much. But at least the underground field of Lunar tears gives her a chance to mentally prepare herself to face 9S again, as the elevator leading here isn’t exactly subtle and it allows her to know when to expect him. She sits down in the field of flowers and has a couple of minutes of peace to herself before she the elevator door close as it’s summoned to the top. She takes a deep breath and wonders what she should say when 9S comes down.

Nothing comes to mind because none of her thoughts seem to make sense, even to her.

As soon as the elevator makes its way back down and the doors open, 9S rushes to her side.

“2B! 2B, what’s wrong?”

Hearing the worry in his voice makes her bite her lip, too scared that her voice will betray her if she tries to speak. 9S crouches down next to her, placing his hand on her shoulder, desperate to offer her some sort of comfort.

“2B, please talk to me. Did I do something?”

2B takes a deep breath and looks at anywhere else but 9S.

“You’re lying to me and I don’t know why.”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“You… keep going on some fake errands.”

“No, I…”

Hearing him try to deny it breaks the little composure she had left.

“Please don’t pretend otherwise, I already know you are. What I _don’t_ know is why would you lie to me about it?”

“2B—” 9S tries again, but 2B interrupts him.

“Is it so that you can spend time with her? The girl with black hair?”

“What? Are you talking about Begonia?”

“I don’t know her name. I just…” her lips begin to tremble, her voice now wavering, “You could have told me. I thought…”

 _Shit._ 2B feels the tears run down her cheeks as she chokes on a sob. So much for trying to hold it together. She lifts one of her hands up to wipe her face when 9S suddenly grabs it to pull her against him, hugging her tight.

He’s warm and it’s nice but it _hurts._

“2B, please listen. I don’t really understand why you’re this upset but I’m sorry I lied to you. I— I never thought it would end up hurting you like this! I never would have kept it a secret if I knew this would happen…”

Her hands curl up into fists, gripping his jacket, her tears are now freely falling on his shoulder as she quietly weeps against him.

“And I don’t really understand what you thought I was doing but I’m pretty sure you got it wrong. I can show you what I’ve been up to, if you let me.”

“Huh?” 2B lifts her face to find 9S smiling softly at her, despite the obvious worry in his eyes.

9S wipes a tear from her cheek and continues talking. “You see, I found something a few weeks ago. It’s a flute, a type of an instrument and I… I wanted to practice until I was ready to perform. That’s why I’ve been coming up with excuses to be alone.”

“Perform?”

9S separates from 2B, his hands lingering on her shoulders for an extra second as he does, and takes something out of his bag, revealing several pieces of silvery metal. 2B quietly watches as 9S puts the pieces together until they form into a strange pipe looking thing. The confusion of what’s going on effectively distracts her from crying.

He then stands up and holds the pipe horizontally, the other end of it close to his face.

“Okay, I haven’t perfected this yet but I’ll do my best.”

9S takes a deep breath and begins to play the instrument, closing his eyes. 2B is immediately mesmerized by the beautiful sounds. She had never heard anything like it. It reminds her of a river, the way the sounds seem to flow seamlessly out of the strange instrument as 9S plays. Or maybe it’s closer to the wind, but gentler and more playful than the strong howling winds she has heard before.

She watches his fingers dance delicately over the instrument while 9S gently blows air into the opening at the other end of it, every now and then glimpsing her way before closing his eyes again. The sounds reverberate off the walls of the small cave, the beautiful music filling the space around them to the point 2B wonders if she can physically _breath_ in the music.

2B doesn’t know anything about music but somehow, the song is making her chest ache with an emotion she can’t name. Too painful to be joy, yet too sweet to be sadness. Either way it’s… calming, relaxing even.

The long vibrating final note caresses her ears before 9S quietly lowers his instrument, catching his breath and suddenly looking nervous.

“So, uh… What did you think?”

“… It was beautiful.” There wasn’t really any other word 2B knew that would describe it better.

“R-Really, you think so?”

9S is visibly gleeful to hear her praise and 2B can’t help but smile.

“Yeah. Why did you hide it from me?”

9S scratches the back of his head and stammers.

“O-Oh, well, you know. I-It’s kind of embarrassing to practice in front of—”

“Hypothesis: Unit 9S wanted to impress unit 2B with a musical performance. Adequate training—”

“POD!” 9S interrupts his pod loudly, face red.

Seeing him like this is making her black box hum happily.

“You… wanted to impress me? Why?”

9S slowly sits down next to her with a sigh, fiddling with the flute and avoiding her gaze.

“I… I just want you to think that I’m... cool, I guess…” his voice quiets down to whisper by the end of his sentence.

2B smiles softly and scoots closer until their shoulders touch.

“Hey, Nines?”

“W-what is it, 2B?”

“Can you teach me how to play that too?”

“Of course!” 9S replies instantly, eyes sparkling with excitement.

But she wasn’t done. “And no more secrets.”

He doesn’t look as happy about that.

“But what if—”

“No more secrets,” she repeats, her strict tone making it known that she’s not willing to take no for an answer. 9S pouts but doesn’t argue further.

“Fine, fine, if you really insist. I still don’t really understand what the big deal was, what did you think I was doing?”

“Analysis: YoRHa unit 2B was experiencing anxiousness after witnessing YoRHa unit 9S meeting a female android in secret. Hypothesis: Jealo—”

“Pod, be quiet.”

She feels his eyes burning her face as she focuses on staring straight forward into the opposite cave wall.

He shifts next to her, putting away the flute on the ground with the flower. With a deep breath, 9S places his hand on hers, gripping it lightly.

“You’re being silly.” 9S says with a small chuckle, and lowers his voice to a whisper, “As if I’d ever have anyone else but you on my mind, 2B.”

She adjusts her hand in his so that she can tentatively lace their fingers together, gently squeezing his hand. He squeezes back and she finally has the courage to look him in the eyes. He’s smiling at her in the way he only does for her, but this time he doesn’t turn away and pretend he wasn’t looking. She feels her own lips tug upwards too, and she figures her smile probably looks just as affectionate as his does.

“… Good.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> After this 9S teaches 2B how to play the flute, holding his fingers over hers on the little flute buttons.
> 
> EDIT: ALSO if you like stuff like jealous 2B and 9S wanting to impress 2B then you should *definitely* do yourself a favor and check out jordypordy's Shut Up and Dance With Me!! It is good x 18k!! If you already did then you should probably reread it anyway.


	13. Dessert

After months of extensive planning, research and gathering, 9S finally has everything he needs. Probably. Maybe.

Most of the ingredients are actually not in the original cake recipe he found, but rather things that work, or at least should work, as replacements. Some androids and machines have taken up farming, which thankfully allowed him to purchase the wheat flour, although it did cost him a small fortune. It was worth the money; trying to harvest wild wheat to get the sufficient amount of flour might have taken more time than he had in his hands. The eagle egg he got as a replacement for chicken eggs (none of them can be found in the area) is huge, and 9S hopes that it’s roughly the same amount as three chicken ones.

Milk was another challenge, but luckily it seems like he can use the coconuts and their milk from the Oasis to make the whipped cream with. In hindsight, he probably should’ve looked at alternatives _before_ getting his ass kicked by a moose that absolutely did not want to share her milk. Moose milk probably wouldn’t have been good anyway.

Harvesting the sugar out of sugar canes was a lot easier than 9S expected, and he decided to plant a few in their garden for the future as well. Might be a good way to make some money later.

Pascal and some of the other machines that had since migrated to his village helped him build an oven to work with. It didn’t look as sleek as the archive photos of that Pod had showed him, but as long as it can heat up and maintain the right temperature, he doesn’t care for the exterior details. Not for the time being, at least.

… Well, now there’s nothing left to do but to bake. 9S rolls up his sleeves and asks his pod to read him the instructions.

_____

Today is January 7th, 2B’s roll-out date. 9S asked about it a few months earlier, but apparently 2B didn’t know and figured she must have erased since it wasn’t important information for the war. Pod 042 then surprised them both by announcing that her roll-out took place on January 7th, 11942, 5:43AM.

That had given 9S exactly 94 days to prepare his “birthday present”, as human used to call it, for 2B. Android don’t need to eat, but _most_ foods aren’t dangerous for them to consume either, so 9S figured it could be a fun experience to partake in this delicacy food that humans often referred to as cake They had cooked some stews and other simple savory foods in the past for fun. Their cooking hasn’t always gone… great, but 9S hopes the cake will still be edible, at the very least.

9S had sent 2B to catch him a few fish for research purposes earlier that morning, so hopefully she would be gone for a couple of hours. That should give him just enough time to finish the cake. If everything goes well, that is.

… In hindsight, he really should’ve expected that everything would most certainly _not_ go well.

First of all, the eagle egg was sturdier than he thought, so he applied more force to break it. A little too much force. The egg breaks, soiling his bare hands with the slimy substance of egg white and yolk. A bunch of eggshells fall into the bowl too in process and damn it, are eggshells hard to dig out of the yolk! 9S ends up spending several minutes just trying to pick the pieces out before it’s clean enough to add the sugar.

At least the sugar went in swimmingly, and with renewed confidence, he starts mixing it until the texture is foamier and light yellow. Looks a bit more liquid-y than in the pictures, but it’s fine. Probably.

The flour is… trickier than what 9S expected. He opens the bag and tries to pour it out into a separate bowl, but only a small lump falls out. Guess the tiny particles stick together when crammed into a tight space. He gives the back of the bag a pat to get the rest of it out. Looks like he used too much force again, as all of the flour flops out in one with a thump, a lot of it spilling outside of the bowl and into the air, the flour fog hitting his face and irritating his nose.

9S scowls down at the offensive pile of powdered grain while clenching his fists.

It’s all going to be worth it. Even if the cake doesn’t look perfect or taste right, he’s sure he can still make 2B smile with the gesture alone.

Not to mention she will probably look really cute when she blows the candle. Or if she gets a little whipped cream on her nose.

With a deep breath, 9S gets back to work.

_____

2B catches the last fish 9S requested and smiles. The luck is on her side today, she was expecting to take a while longer. He’s probably going to be surprised to see her back to early. Maybe he will compliment her fishing skills too.

Excited to show off, 2B heads back home.

Oh right, he never mentioned what the fish were for. She makes a mental note to ask him.

The trip from the coast to their little house in the forest doesn’t take long when she runs. In less than ten minutes she arrives at the little house they built together a year ago. She quickly opens the door and calls out her husband’s nickname.

“Nines? I’m back.”

Instead of the usual “Welcome back!” the only reply she gets is loud whirring noise from the kitchen. A drill, maybe?

Just what _is_ he doing?

She walks towards the sound and finds the kitchen door shut. That’s unusual. 2B doesn’t let it stop her and she opens the door and peeks in.

Her eyes widen at the sight.

The kitchen looks as if something had exploded in there. The counters are filled with different substances, out of which 2B recognizes egg yolk, eggshells and… is that sand? Looks finer than the sand in the desert. 

And in the middle of it all, his back turned to her is 9S, holding some strange tool in his hand a bowl and an odd tool that is definitely the source of the annoying noise.

“Nines? Wha—”

“AGH!”

9S flips his head around in surprise, accidentally yanking the odd tool out of the bowl and spraying white foam everywhere, including the already messy counter, the walls, not to mention his own face. 2B feels a few drops land on her cheeks too and she wipes it away with the back of her hand.

“Oh, it’s you, 2B. Sorry, I didn’t hear you come in—wait! You can’t see it yet!”

The second he recognizes the unexpected intruder to his little experiment, 9S turns to face her and spreads his arms to hide something that’s probably on the counter behind him.

“… See what?”

“… Nothing. I didn’t think you’d be home so soon though! Did you really already catch all the fish? That’s impressive! You’re probably the best fisher in the area!”

2B smiles at that for a split second before realizing 9S is probably just trying to distract her. She then scowls instead, now more suspicious than ever.

“Don’t try to change the subject. Show me.”

“I-I’ll show you in ten minutes! I promise! You can just wait in the living room, I’ll bring it to you soon.”

2B has never been good at denying him when he begs her with those big, blue eyes of his.

… Ten minutes is not too long of a wait anyway.

“… Fine. Also, remember to clean your mess too.”

“… I will afterwards, I promise!”

_____

2B waits in the living room like 9S asked her to, and fair enough, just before the ten minutes are up, she hears the kitchen door open behind her and she turns her head around.

9S is carrying… something that’s covered in the white foam and strawberries. Some kind of food then, maybe? But why is there a thin, tall, not to mention lit candle in the middle of it?

“Nines, what is that?”

He looks happy that she asked.

“This type of food is called a cake. To be more specific, this is a birthday cake.”

“Birthday?”

“Today is January 7th, your roll-out day, remember? I thought that our roll-out dates are essentially what humans called birthdays, so I wanted to celebrate yours with a traditional birthday cake like humans did. It’s my first try, so it doesn’t really look as good as in the pictures Pod showed me, but hopefully it will still taste alright.”

9S obviously went through a lot of effort to make this, based on the way the kitchen looked at least, but… she still doesn’t really see the point and guilt stabs her chest for not being able to be as excited about it as 9S obviously is. They don’t need to eat, why make her this cake? She probably _can’t_ even eat it all.

Hoping that learning more about the tradition will both alleviate her confusion and boost her mood, she asks,

“… What did they celebrate birthdays for?”

9S doesn’t look the slightest bit offended that she’s not brimming with excitement the way he is. Instead, he simply puts the cake down on the table in front of her and sits down next to her with a smile.

He’s always sweet and patient like that.

“Humans celebrated birthdays to show appreciation towards the person whose birthday it was. Friends and family of the person would give them presents, share the cake and other foods, engage in games and sometimes they would even sing together. This was all to show how happy they were that the person was born.”

Oh…

Something squeezes her chest gently as she looks at 9S smiling softly at her.

“2B. Thank you for being born. Oh, and happy birthday! Or would you prefer roll-out—woah!”

She quickly wraps her arms around him, pulling him into a tight hug.

2B has the sweetest husband _in the world._

“Thank you, Nines. I’m glad you were born too…”

His hands reach up to hold her back and he nods against her chest. After holding each other for a few seconds, 9S pushes her shoulders suddenly, breaking their embrace, and looks at the cake.

“Oh, right! You should probably blow the candle before it melts into the cake! The wax isn’t probably too delicious.”

2B cocks her head.

“Why did you put a candle on it then?”

9S’ smile widens.

“Another human tradition, obviously! The birthday person makes a wish and then blows out a candle, or candles, on their birthday cake. Supposedly the wish will come true, but you know humans and superstitions.”

“… I see. So I have to make a wish?”

“Yes, and then you blow the candle. Oh, but don’t say it out loud, it’s bad luck!”

“Got it.”

2B stares at the dancing light of the candle while she thinks of her wish. It doesn’t take her long to settle on one.

_I wish for happy days like these with 9S to never end._

She blows the candle with a small puff of air followed by a serene smile while 9S claps excitedly next to her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not gonna lie, the cake was probably pretty bad and a little undercooked. They can still use the whipped cream to smear each others' noses with it for some sweet nose kisses though.


	14. Hair brushing/styling

2B can spend hours fishing, which is fine, really. It’s not like they’re in a rush now anyway. 9S fishes with her for a while, but he has the shorter attention span out of the two of them, so he quits after forty minutes or so, and moves his attention into seeing if there are any interesting looking seashells.

After gathering a few that looked particularly pretty, he gets bored of that too.

“2B, how is it going?”

“Good. There are all kinds of interesting fish here.”

9S smiles at her enthusiasm.

“I’m glad you’re enjoying yourself.”

He doesn’t really want to interrupt her fun by saying that he’s actually ready to do literally anything else, so he looks around for something else to busy himself with.

A gentle ocean wind makes 2B’s hair dance in the wind and the sight catches his interest.

He walks up behind her and combs her hair with his fingers and estimates her hair must be approximately 10-12 centimeters longer than the original length. He probably should cut his hair too one of these days.

“What are you doing?”

“Nothing really. I was just thinking how your hair has gotten pretty long.”

She hums in reply before commanding Pod 042 to catch the biting fish.

“Report: Failure”

“Oh, sorry. Did I distract you?”

“No, it’s fine.”

She commences fishing again and, with her blessing, 9S keeps toying with her hair. Oh, he has some ribbons somewhere, right?

Going through his inventory, 9S finds several small ribbons of different colors that they bought a long time ago. Smiling, he takes off his gloves and tosses them on the sand before returning his fingers to take off her headband (he tosses it on his gloves) and gently massages her scalp as he runs his fingers through her hair down from the top all the way down to the ends.

It’s so soft and silky between his fingers. He could do this all day.

2B doesn’t seem to have anything against it either as she responds to his touch with a happy hum, which prompts him to lift a lock of her hair to his lips and give it a kiss.

It smells like the ocean breeze.

Allowing the lock of hair to fall from his hand to join the others, 9S wonders about what he wants to do first. Deciding braiding was fun the last time, he separates her hair into three sections.

“What are you doing?”

“Having fun with your pretty hair.”

“… Okay.”

It’s been a long while since he last braided her hair, but thankfully he still remembers how to do it. After a short while he ties the single braid with a blue ribbon at the bottom.

“2B, can you turn to look at me for a sec?”

2B does as she’s told and 9S’ black box whirs excitedly. The braid looks good on her, the lack of hair framing her face making her look elegant and mature.

“How is it?”

“You look beautiful,” he breath out.

2B averts her gaze but her lips turn upwards into a shy smile regardless.

“… Thank you.”

Aaah! 2B is the prettiest, cutest thing to have ever lived.

… Maybe twin braids would emphasize her cuteness even further?

The takes off the ribbon and starts untying the braid, making sure not to tug on her hair uncomfortably as he does.

“Hm? You didn’t like it?”

9S leans down to give a kiss next to her ear while he is still holding the hair out of the way, causing her to shudder.

“I did, but I want to try something else too.”

“… I see.”

For the lack of better place to keep it within easy reach, 9S holds the ribbon in his mouth as he begins his next project.

Splitting her hair next into two sections, he starts braiding the right portion first, moving to work on her side. He notices 2B’s eyes drifting to look at his work every now and then but she doesn’t tell him to stop. After he’s done braiding the right side, he grabs the ribbon from his mouth and ties it carefully so it won’t come loose, letting the braid hang down on her shoulder.

He realizes he doesn’t have another blue ribbon, so he settles on a red one before repeating the process on the left section of her hair too. He steps in front of her to appreciate his work.

… Yeah, twin braids make her look even cuter than usual, 9S swoons, his black box overheating from the adorable sight that is his wife.

2B frowns at him, fidgeting her legs, obviously embarrassed by whatever lovestruck expression he must be making.

“Nines, you’re in the way.”

“Sorry!”

He steps out of her way so that she can monitor her pod and admires her from the side, his chest warm with overflowing affection. Unable to hold himself back any longer, he gets behind her (as not to disturb her fishing) and hugs her tight, nuzzling his nose into the hair behind her ear.

“N-Nines?”

“Don’t mind me, you can just keep fishing.”

“O-okay…”

She never tears her eyes from the ocean, but her hand rise to hold on to his arms wrapped around her abdomen, hugging them closer to her while they listen to the waves.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 2B is actually ready to stop fishing half-way through him making the twin braids, but she doesn't say anything because having 9S play with her hair feels really nice. After some while of hugging, 9S asks his pod for more hairstyle pictures and tries out all kinds of things, and even manages to use a seashell he picked earlier to decorate her hair. 
> 
> 9S' hair is also down to his shoulders at this point, so 2B plays with his too once she gets enough of fishing. I'm thinking pig-tails and 9S pouting while 2B giggles at him.
> 
> Thanks BaraKunasaka reminding me of behind the ear nuzzles!


	15. Fancy party

”I think that was the last one of the lights. Thanks for the help 9S”

“No problem! I better go get dressed then, see you all later!”

Androids and machines formed peace formally on September first, 1945. Ever since androids and machines have come together annually on the date to celebrate the on-going peace and to enforce the friendship between them. Both share a love and interest in the culture of the humans that habited the planet long ago, and therefore most of the events were heavily inspired by the information they had or found about festive traditions humans used to engage in.

Today marks exactly 30 years of peace. First years the celebrations were quite meager both in terms of activities and decorations. But if they had learned anything over the years of cooperation, it is that androids and machines make an efficient team when it comes to reconstruction. Androids and machines have worked tirelessly to restore the surrounding areas. A few of the building in the city are polished enough to live in.

The theater in the Amusement park has been renovated for the sake of events like these. Today’s event (like the Peace celebrations of six consecutive years) is inspired by the grand balls humans used to host, but for the lack of proper space they utilize the theater and the rest of the Amusement park as the next best thing. Both androids and machines will perform, and in case not everyone who wishes to dance fits inside the small theater building, speakers have been set around the entire park so that anyone can listen to the performances from anywhere in the park.

Obviously, everyone is putting on their best garments for the special occasion. 9S has his tux waiting for him in one of the dressing rooms; he didn’t want to risk dirtying or ripping it while adjusting the lights, which involved a fair amount of climbing and crawling on dusty surfaces.

“I wonder if 2B is done already… The party is already starting so she should be,” 9S mutters to himself while he beelines to the dressing room, on his way passing the first guests arriving in the theater to enjoy the lights and the pre-recorded music set to play until the event officially begins.

9S wastes no time putting on his tux he had specially made for this occasion (like many others, if not most). It’s deep black as that used to be the most common choice of color for this type of clothing back in the human days. It’s quite unfair how most traditional male party wear tends to be bland and unimaginative in comparison to women’s dresses, but he decided to request a bowtie with some extra flare. Simple sapphire tie with thin lines of glittering silvery thread.

Even if it’s not the most unique outfit, 9S does like how it looks on him. 2B will too, he’s sure.

With a one last look in the mirror to make sure he doesn’t have single crease or a hair out of place, 9S heads out with a smile on his face to look for 2B, eager to see what kind of a dress she’s wearing this year. It’s sort of a tradition at this point for 2B to hide her dress from him until the party and he would be lying if he claimed not to love the surprise each year.

Both machines and androids have started to flood into the small theater building while he was dressing up, all of them wearing dresses and suits of different colors and styles. 9S scans the room for signs of 2B, which is increasingly difficult as more and more people come in, some even dancing already.

… It’s times like these when 9S wishes that he was just a little bit taller. Practically all the other androids are and they limit his vision significantly.

Determining that 2B must be downstairs after looking around for a minute with no success, he heads there instead. He scans the room below from the top of the staircase, immediately locking his eyes on the one android there with white hair.

His breath catches in his throat (like it seems to do every year) and his hand reaches to push against his chest to calm down the overly eager black box.

2B’s hair is lightly curled with the Lunar Tear adding a touch of elegance to the simple hairstyle. Her dress matches his tie, to 9S’ pleasant surprise; their weavers must have worked together on that. The straps of her dress are wide and hang low on her shoulders, folding over each other on her chest. Flowers woven with sparkling thread decorate her dress in detailed patterns. The dress widens at her hips, and it looks like it has at least two layers, the top one being thinner and glimmering as the light hits it, and 9S can tell that the dress will billow beautifully if 2B were to twirl.

He will make her twirl later, just to make sure, he decides.

9S begins making his way down the stairs while 2B chats with Pascal near the entrance, her smiling lips visibly red even from where he is standing.

2B notices him right before 9S makes his it all the way down, her smile widening at the sight of him. She says something to Pascal quick and rushes towards him. They come together in the middle of the room, almost crashing into others as the two is entirely focused on each other alone.

They greet each other with a quick embrace before taking a better look at one another, smiles wide and eyes sparkling with excitement.

“You look handsome. I like the tie.”

“Thanks. I’m happy it matches your dress!” 9S lets his eyes travel his lover’s silhouette up and down, searching for words that would adequately describe her beauty but still coming up short. “You look… absolutely stunning.”

2B smiles shyly; being on the receiving side of compliments has never been her strong suit. Not that it ever stops 9S, her embarrassed smile being one his favorite things in the world.

“Thank you. You did say blue is my color.”

9S nods in agreement, his hand reaching to feel the fabric of her strap. “It really is. I swear my black box nearly exploded when I first saw you from up there.”

2B chuckles at his words. “You say that every year.”

“Maybe you’re just that beautiful every year,” he replies with a mischievous grin.

Suddenly the speakers announce the start of the ball and introduce the first performers who will be taking over the stage. The announcement is soon followed with gentle waltz.

9S smiles at the speaker hanging near the ceiling. Taking 2B’s hand in his, he brings it to his lips to give it a quick kiss as he looks up into her eyes.

“May I have this dance?”

Her hand adjusts to hold his and places her other one on his shoulder.

“Like you need to ask. Lead the way, Nines.”

His hand finds her waist, pulling her closer to him. They begin floating in a small circle on the makeshift dance floor, the blue eyes of the same color gazing only at one another as the rest of the world seems to disappear around them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pascal is probably swooning while he watches them dance. Actually most of the guests there probably are since they're the prettiest couple by far.


	16. Gift-giving

9S is very kind. 2B knew as much, but the sheer amount of affection he keeps showering her with now that they’re free is still something 2B struggles to keep up with. More than 95% of the time he’s the one who initiates the kisses, hugs or cuddles, and he keeps discovering new ways from the Old World data to show how much he loves her.

While this is the happiest 2B has ever been, at the same time she can’t help but worry if 9S will eventually get bored of her simply following his lead all the time. She’s awkward and it usually takes a moment for her to gather the courage to take his hand, or to reach out to embrace him. Meanwhile 9S moves quick, and often ends up grabbing her hand in his before she can bring herself to do so, even if she really was thinking of it.

Fortunately, he doesn’t seem bothered by her lack of initiative, but 2B can’t shake the gnawing feeling that she’s not doing enough to show her affection to him.

“Pod, is there anything I could do to show 9S how much I… care for him?” her voice quiets down to a whisper in the empty room. 9S is out helping Pascal gather data at the factory, giving her the rare opportunity to plan something without him present.

“Proposal: Unit 9S seems fond of physical shows of affection. A kiss on the cheek as he returns would most likely be appreciated.”

“Hmm, but he always does that. I was wondering if there’s anything I could do that he doesn’t do to me as much.”

“Proposal: Gift-giving was a common practice among humans to show appreciation. Unit 2B could consider crafting or purchasing a gift for unit 9S.”

2B considers Pod 042’s words.

“A gift… I see.” Maybe that would be easier than trying to say something romantic or trying to touch him first. “Thank you Pod.”

Enthusiastic, she quickly jumps off her bed and leaves the room, her Pod quietly following after her.

_____

What would 9S like? He’s interested in anything he can learn something new from, so maybe a book would be the ideal gift. She remembers seeing Anemone read a book at some point and decides to approach her first to see if she has anything that could interest the curious scanner.

“Books, huh? Not a bad idea. I would love to lend you one of mine… but unfortunately most of them were damaged beyond repair during the machine attack. I might have still a few somewhere. It might take me a while to look for it though.”

“… I see. I’ll see if I can think of something else then. Thank you for your time.”

Anemone smiles at her. “No problem. I’m sure 9S will be happy with whatever you get him, so don’t sweat it.”

2B nods before leaving the Resistance Camp behind. What Anemone said is most likely true; 2B has a hard time imagining 9S being anything but elated no matter what she ends up giving him. But she wants to show him just how much she cares for him and decides to keep looking until she finds something that would maybe convey her feelings better than her words do.

_____

She wanders around the broken city, searching for anything that looks even remotely interesting. She finds some scrap items that they’ve used for repairs and upgrades, but nothing… special. She gathers everything just in case, but she hopes she can find something a bit more unique than broken wires to give to 9S.

“Pod, where do you think I could find something more interesting than broken machine parts?”

“Analysis: Unit 2B and 9S have found interesting items, such as jewelry and Old World data from the Amusement Park. Proposal: Unit 2B could continue her search there.”

… Not a bad idea. 2B runs towards her next destination, hoping that she will find at least something before 9S returns to the Resistance Camp and begins to wonder where she is.

_____

However, after looking around the Amusement Park for an hour, the best thing she manages to find is broken necklace. As dense as she can be when it comes to old human customs, garbage doesn’t exactly sound like thoughtful gift to give someone. Yet, she takes it with her just in case; the necklace has some pretty stones (although not very bright at the moment) adorning it, maybe she can find someone who can repair it to its former beauty.

“MISS ANDROID!”

A medium-biped machine with a top hat and a coat of paint imitating a suit approaches her as she walks one of the back alleys of the Amusement Park, stopping 2B in her tracks.

“Yes?”

“I NOTICED YOU LOOKED LIKE YOU WERE SEARCHING FOR SOMETHING. MAY I ASK WHAT IT IS THAT YOU SEEK?”

“… Nothing in particular. I was looking for something to give as a present.”

“A FRIEND?”

“… More than that.”

“I SEE. A LOVER?”

2B blushes at that slightly but nods regardless.

The odd machine leaps into the air excitedly and 2B, surprised by the sudden movement, instinctively takes a step back.

“IT IS YOUR LUCKY DAY, FOR I HAVE WHAT YOU SEEK!”

The machine declares, pumping its fists in the air three times. He then turns around to dig something from behind one of the small crates stashed in the alley before holding its open hand towards her, a small silver(?) ring on his palm.

“I WILL SELL THIS RING TO YOU FOR ONLY 1,000G.”

“A ring?”

A ring… It looks to be in good condition too, untarnished and glimmering beautifully in the light Pod 042 focuses on it. It looks like silver, but still somehow slightly different?

“Pod, what material is this?”

“Hypothesis: White gold. It used to be a popular mixture of metals to use in jewerly. It is made by mixing gold into white metals such as silver, nickel or palladium.”

This could work. 9S could wear this and be reminded about her affection for him every time he looks at it. Not to mention he will be excited to see a relic in such a good shape too, and on top of that it’s made of some rare material. He will probably be happy just to study the object even without the sentimentality of receiving it from her.

“I’ll buy it,” she says with a smile.

“WISE CHOICE. THIS WAS THE LAST ONE I HAD.”

Seems like she got lucky then. Thanking the machine one more time, she heads back to the Resistance Camp. 9S should be back soon though, she thinks, anticipation warming her chest.

_____

“2B, welcome back! Where did you go?”

9S greets her when she enters their room. Good, he’s already home so she can do this right away.

Instead of replying to his question, 2B rushes to 9S and hurriedly takes his hands in hers. 9S looks surprised but he doesn’t shy away from her.

“Nines, I… I have something I want to tell you.”

“What is it, 2B?”

2B bites her lip. “I… I’m not very good with words. Or emotions. I’m awkward and sometimes I feel like maybe…”

9S smiles at her encouragingly as he waits for her to continue, gently massaging her hands with his thumbs.

“I sometimes worry that I don’t make you feel as loved as you make me feel…”

9S’ hands leave hers and for a split second she wonders if she said something wrong. Her worries quickly washed away when 9S reaches his hands towards her to take off her goggles before taking off his own too, revealing his beautiful blue eyes looking at her softly.

“You don’t have to worry about something like that 2B. I don’t expect you to do as much as I do… I’m just hoping you don’t find me overbearing.”

“Not at all! I… like it.”

He chuckles at that, his laughter sweet and gentle.

“I’m glad.”

2B shifts on her legs. “B-but that wasn’t the only thing I wanted to say.”

“Oh?”

2B takes a calming deep breath before just spitting out whatever words first come to her mind.

“I… I just wanted to let you know that I… really appreciate everything you do for me. And I care about you too. I care about you so much it makes my chest hurt sometimes when I think about it too much. I… want to be together with you forever so I don’t want you to get bored of me. So, I-I got you a gift.”

“A gift?”

2B reaches into her pocket and takes out the ring and holds it out towards 9S, whose eyes go wide in surprise.

“I… I thought maybe this could be a reminder of that to you. If you ever feel like I don’t… return your affections properly, I want you to remember that I still… l-love you and that I always will… even if I don’t say it or show it enough.”

9S looks like he’s about to explode with his face flashing beet red from embarrassment, surprising 2B. She didn’t expect him to like it this much, but now she’s extremely glad she bought the ring.

He gingerly accepts the ring, holding it with a slightly shaking hand, his eyes glued to it.

He opens his mouth to quietly ask with a shaky voice, “2-2B, uh, is… is this a pr-proposal?”

She cocks her head at his odd question.

“No, it’s a ring.”

“O-oh. Of course.”

9S sighs, as if relieved, which 2B finds strange. She’s about to ask if everything is okay when he smiles at her warmly, face still adorably red but seemingly calming down from the initial shock.

“Thank you, 2B. I’ll treasure it.”

He takes off his right glove to slip the ring on his ring finger, holding his hand up to admire it. 2B smiles happily at the sight, feeling like maybe she had finally managed to express herself and her emotions the way she wanted to.

9S then speaks up again. “Actually, there’s something I want to show you too,” he says, taking her hand in his and leading her towards the door with eager steps.

“What?”

9S suddenly seems like he’s having a hard time holding eye-contact, his eyes drifting away from hers to look at the surrounding instead.

“Uh… I-it’s in the factory. I’ll show you when we get there.”

_____

They make their way towards the factory mostly in silence, as the closer they get the more nervous he begins to feel. Making sure 2B isn’t looking, 9S reaches his left hand into his pocket, affirming that the ring he got the other day was still safely tucked away in it, patiently waiting for him to finally ask the question.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> He's gonna do it where they first met. Pascal helped him bring a bunch of flowers and set up some pretty lights there.


	17. Mooseriding

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some more festive spirit, and some happiness for A2 too.

“… Is the moose really necessary?”

A2 asks, fiddling with the tom-tom on top of the strange red had 9S made her wear for the occasion.

2B is sitting next to her, wearing a similar hat to hers as they watch 9S in bright red clothes and a fake beard ride a moose into the village, the machine children running to greet him with excited shrieks. She doesn’t turn to look at A2, her eyes focused on her disguised husband speaking in a low, booming voice that only seem to make the children even more excited.

“Nines says it is.”

“I thought he said the Santa guy rode a reindeer though.”

“Yes, but there aren’t any of them around here, so Nines decided to pick the next best thing… I think.”

They watch 9S get off the moose, his fake beard slipping a bit as he does, which makes A2 snort. He quickly fixes it, and it doesn’t look like the children really noticed, many of them admiring the red ribbons decorating the moose’s antlers. The pods bring him the big cloth bags. Untying the ropes holding the bags closed, he begins to distribute the various small toys to the excited children chanting “SANTA!” at him, his eyes smiling.

“He does say this is to make the children happy, but he sure does look like he’s enjoying himself the most here.”

2B takes a sip of the hot mulled wine from the cup in her hands, humming thoughtfully. A2 follows her example, feeling the sweet drink warm her throat. Not bad at all. For a machine, Pascal really knows his booze.

“… Maybe,” she says with an amused smile.

A2 watches as some of children run off to Pascal or their parents to show off their new shiny things while others instantly start playing with them together. At least the children seem happy about this odd tradition too, she thinks, feeling a smile tug at her lips. She quickly takes another gulp out of her mug to hide it.

“Big sis! Big sis!” one of the machine children suddenly call out to her, jumping hurriedly towards her.

“What is it?”

“I’ll give you this!” the machine says, holding out a small wooden doll. A2’s eyes widen in surprise.

“Huh? Why?”

“It’s a Christmas present from me to Big sis!” A2 notices 2B holding back a laugh next to her but she decides to ignore that.

“O-oh. I’m fine, you just got it from Santa, right? You earned it by… being a good kid, so you keep it.”

“Are you sure?”

A2 nods with a small smile and pats the small machine on its head.

“Yes, go play with the others.”

The child machine puts its hand on A2’s wrist, weakly pulling it.

“Come play with me, Big sis!”

A2 gives a pointed look at 2B, hoping that she will help her out of this. 2B nods and A2 sighs in relief, until 2B reaches out to grab the mug of mulled wine from A2’s other hand.

“I’ll hold your cup, have fun,” she tells her with a mischievous smile.

Bastard.

With a resigned sigh, A2 gets up and allows the machine to lead her to its friends, who all begin to show off their new toys to her.

… Well, doing something like this once a year isn’t all bad.

_____

“A2 always acts like she hates playing with the children, but she does look pretty happy right now,” 9S says, voice filled with poorly concealed amusement as he sits down next to 2B, finally done giving out all the presents.

“Looks like it.”

They sit there for a while, watching the glee of the happy machine children and A2. Some of the children already put their toys aside, choosing to instead surround A2 and asking her to lift them up so that they can fly. A2 complies while muttering complaints, the soft smile plastered on her face betraying her words.

“Oh right, I have a present for you too!” 9S says suddenly.

2B cocks her head while 9S reaches into one of the pockets of his red coat, holding out a small, neatly wrapped box with a ribbon decorating it.

“What is this?”

“Guess you’re gonna have to open it to find out,” he replies, his fake beard covering his smirk.

2B looks at the box and puts down her cup next to A2’s on the bench, to hold the present with her both hands, admiring it with a smile.

“… Maybe later when we get home. I’m… happy enough right now,” she says, lifting her gaze from the box back to the playing children with a peaceful expression. Seeing her this happy makes 9S’ entire being flood with warmth, and behind his fake beard, he smiles softly at her.

“Alright.”

There’s no rush, after all. 9S scoots closer to lean his head against her shoulder, resting for a moment.

“Hey, Santa! The kids say they want to ride the moose with you!” A2 shouts, and 9S jumps back on his feet.

Being Santa even once a year is pretty tiring, but the happiness it seems to bring anyone is worth the trouble.

“Ho ho ho! Fine by me! Who wants to go first?”


	18. Bed sharing

“Ta-da!” 9S exclaims proudly, holding some sort of a thick cloth up high up in the air, high enough for it to hide his face from 2B.

“… What is that?”

9S tosses the cloth slightly in the air to catch it immediately after, folding it over his arm as he walks to their bed with an excited smile.

“It’s a blanket! It’s been getting kid of cold lately, right? Humans used to sleep in their beds under a blanket in order to stay warm throughout the night. If we sleep under this, we don’t have to use as much energy on our internal heating systems and we could save some energy.”

“I see. That does sound clever.” 9S has a habit of bringing all sorts of things into their room at the Resistance camp, most of which 2B honestly finds unnecessary. They make 9S happy though, so she doesn’t complain, not anymore at least. It’s still a welcome change to see him bring something that actually sounds useful, 2B thinks with a smile as she watches 9S set the blanket neatly on the bed.

“Right?! And not only is it efficient in heat preservation, it’s also soft and comfy! Wanna go to sleep a bit early to try it out?”

“Sure.”

_____

9S wakes up in the middle of the night because he is _freezing._ Sure, he did calibrate his temperature settings to be significantly lower than normal so that he wouldn’t risk overheating under the insulating blanket. Maybe he overestimated how efficient the blanket is at trapping heat?

He opens his eyes (which doesn’t do much in the dark room) and tries to grab the blanket that should be on him… only to find it’s not.

Well, that explains why he’s cold. Now he just needs to figure out what happened to the blanket.

He turns on the small night light on the small table positioned next to the bed. After his eyes adjust to the sudden change in brightness, he looks to his side where 2B is sleeping and snorts quietly to himself.

2B is sleeping soundly her back towards him, safely wrapped into what was supposed to be their _shared_ blanket. If he didn’t find the sight so adorable, he might have been slightly frustrated at her greediness, but alas, she’s too adorable in her little blanket cocoon for him to feel anything but overflowing adoration.

 _At least she likes it_ , he thinks to himself with a tired smile. Maybe he needs to get another blanket tomorrow.

With a yawn, he turns off the light and scoots closer to 2B, feeling around for the edge of the blanket. He soon finds it and wiggles himself under it, pressing his body against 2B’s. Wrapping his arm around her midsection, he pulls himself closer to her, and places a kiss on her exposed neck before closing his eyes with a smile.

9S only gets enough blanket to cover his side as he spoons his blanket-hogging lover, but it’s alright.

2B is soft and warm too.


	19. Practice

Now that there aren’t as many physical threats around, 2B wanted to find other ways she could help 9S. She’s extremely skilled in combat, and the lack of it has her feeling like 9S is always the one taking care of both of them while the most she can do is to move around some boxes and fish. Her concerns lead to 9S suggesting she learns how to perform regular and emergency maintenance on him, especially if they decide to go travel the world like they’ve been planning to.

It’s not a necessary skill for her, and most likely her effort won’t be ever really needed. Normally, 9S is fully capable of taking care of his own maintenance. Even in critical stage he can still manage as long as he has the help of his pod. 2B doesn’t even have the ability to hack programmed into her, but thankfully as long as 9S has authorized her presence in his settings she’s able to open the hacking interface with the assistance of Pod 042 (or any other willing pod).

However, traveling the world just the four of them might turn out to be dangerous and 2B wants to prepare the best they can for any outcome. If nothing else, maybe she can just help him relax by taking care of his maintenance here and there.

For safety’s sake, they start from the basic settings, 9S usually assisting her via the hacking interface, sending her messages guiding her through his settings. They move in baby steps, since 2B has no experience in data configuration whatsoever and the lines of code and numbers make her dizzy.

After several practice rounds over the span of few weeks with 9S’ assistance, 2B decides to try doing his basic maintenance for the first time without the guidance from him or his pod.

2B mouths the instructions she’s memorized over time as she goes over his settings. Vital check goes swimmingly, as does the visual one.

 _“You’re doing great, 2B! Keep going!”_ 9S’ message pops up on the interface and 2B smiles before continuing, backtracking a bit to make sure she remembers where she was at.

She goes on to check his sensory settings, finding no problems there. As 9S had taught her, she still makes sure everything’s normal by a simple sensory check. She gently pats his head, to which 9S helpfully replies with _“Do that again.”_

2B snorts and does as requested, receiving a happy smiley face in the log as a reward. Silly Nines.

Only sound settings left and then 9S should be ready to wake up from the standby mode.

_“I’m going to be calling for you now to check the sound settings.”_

_“Ok!”_

“Nines, can you hear me?”

…

No reaction. Huh, that’s weird.

 _“Did you hear that?”_ she types out.

_“No. Maybe adjust the sensitivity a bit higher?”_

_“Okay.”_

2B goes back to the settings and frowns. It looks like he _should_ be able to hear her, but she amps up the sensitivity by a couple of bars to see if it makes a difference.

“Nines? Can you hear me? Niiines.”

That’s when 2B notices it. It's miniscule, but his lip definitely twitches. It’s nowhere near a smile; in this state 9S should be unable to form a smile even if he wanted to. Must be a reflexive movement then.

He must have heard her this time. There’s literally nothing else in the room to trigger any kind of reaction out of him aside from her voice.

_“Did you hear that?”_

_“No. Maybe you should try closer?”_

Ah. He is _teasing_ her. She should have seen this coming, honestly. 2B has a history of teasing him in a similar fashion. A situation like this is certainly a prime opportunity for him to give a payback she kind of deserves.

Still, no matter how much 2B realizes she probably deserves to have a taste of her own medicine, she’s not going to let this opportunity to flip the tables pass.

_“Okay.”_

Maybe she will try closer then. Very close, just to make sure that he will definitely hear what she has to say.

2B leans down until her lips lighty brush against 9S’ ear. It almost looks like his body twitches at that, but maybe that was just her imagination... Or maybe not.

“Nines, I want ---”

The ear 2B is whispering directly into burns bright red by the time she’s done with her final sound check.

_“9a80s9edf80”_

With a satisfied smirk, 2B gives his ear a quick peck before moving away and announcing “All systems check, no abnormalities detected. Commencing booting. Good morning, Nines.”

Regaining his full mobility with the booting, 9S immediately brings his hands up to cover his blushing face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, she said something that would force me to raise the rating. Let your imagination run wild.


	20. Secrets

”2B, it’s time for maintenance— oh?”

9S enters 2B’s room to see his usually stoic partner startle and quickly hide something behind her back. He didn’t see what it was, but he was able to catch a flash of white.

… Maybe he should have knocked.

“Er, um, sorry! Did I interrupt something?”

“… It’s fine. Close the door.”

“Right!” 9S walks in, allowing the door to close behind him.

“Soo… May I ask what you have there?”

2B stands still, facing him with the mysterious object hidden safely behind her back.

“… No. Turn around.”

It must be something she’s not supposed to have. If that doesn’t make his curiosity skyrocket then what will?

What could his Miss “emotions are prohibited” -partner possibly sneak into her room against the rules?

“C’mon 2B, show me!” he says with a playful tone and smile, daring to step closer to try to look behind her.

“It’s nothing,” her voice wavering uncharacteristically. Something embarrassing, maybe?

He’s never wanted to know anything this bad in his life.

“I won’t tell anyone, I promise!”

2B bites her lip for a moment while she looks around her room, ultimately lowering her shoulders in defeat when she realizes 9S will be able to look around her room when she’s suspended for maintenance anyway.

She brings her hand forward from behind her back, holding a single flower in it carefully, as if it was the frailest as well as the most precious thing in the universe.

“Oh, is that a daisy?”

“… Yes.”

“I’m guessing you remember we’re not allowed to bring anything organic from Earth to the Bunker?”

“… Yes.”

She lowers her head a little and shifts on her feet, looking guilty.

Meanwhile 9S resists the urge to chuckle at the situation. Who would’ve thought his partner – who always reminds him of how important it is to abide to every single arbitrary rule – would be sneaking flowers into her room? Seeing her look so guilty about it too just adds to the absurdity of it all.

Seems like his gut instinct was right all along, and there was something special about this person.

“No need to look so guilty, I won’t tell anyone. It’ll be our secret,” 9S tells her with a gentle tone.

He gives her an encouraging smile, holding out his hand towards the flower, which 2B passes to him.

9S holds the flower with same amount of care as he saw 2B give it, twirling it lightly in his hand as he studies it.

“It’s a beautiful one, alright. How did you keep it in such good condition during the fly back?”

“… I hid it in a small metal tube.”

9S feels a grin tugging at his lips and he passes the flower back to 2B.

“I’m guessing this is not the first time then?”

2B’s silence is all the confirmation he needs.

“Why go through the trouble though? We get to see flowers on Earth a lot on our missions.”

2B’s finger moves across one of the petals, as if petting it.

“… We don’t usually have time to stop for too long. It’s also… nice going to sleep after looking at them.”

For the very first time, 9S sees 2B’s lips turn into a small smile and it feels like something inside him breaks at the sight. His black box hiccups, but it’s not entirely unpleasant.

“I-I see,” he says, his voice stuttering and making him feel embarrassed.

The longer he looks at 2B smiling the hotter his chest and face seem to grow. What was a normal breathing pattern like? 9S doesn’t remember anymore.

_What is this?_

“9S? You alright?”

9S averts 2B’s gaze, feeling it pierce him even through their goggles.

God bless the goggles.

“Oh, I-I’m fine. I think. Don’t worry, 2B.”

“Are you sure? You’re pulse rate is—”

“It’s fine!” He reassures her, louder than he intended and probably just making her even more suspicious. “I remembered I need to go get something, I’ll be back soon!”

With that, 9S escapes her room and beelines to his own, not that there are any other ways to get there in the round facility anyway. When 9S is finally safely hidden away from everyone in the privacy of his own space, he lets his back lean against his door, and he releases the breath he didn’t realize he had been holding in.

He closes his eyes in an effort to calm himself down, but it only seems to make 2B’s smile flash in his mind over and over again. It’s pleasant but it’s definitely not calming him down.

Deciding to distract himself by figuring out what’s wrong with his body, 9S turns to his archives to search for possible causes of this odd feeling.

...

...

_Oh._

_____

A couple of weeks after the incident, 2B comes into her room after a solo mission. Exhausted, she immediately sits down on her bed and begins to take off her shoes when she catches something red in the corner of her vision.

A single red tulip lies on her desk, placed so that it’s hidden from the view by her chair if you were to stand at her door.

She takes it in her hand with a soft smile.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> After that, 2B starts finding flowers from time to time in her room. 9S doesn't say anything and 2B doesn't ask.


	21. Chores

9S is extremely happy about the fact that both androids and machines have taken interest in making clothes. It’s fun to wear different types and colors of clothing instead of the black YoRHa uniforms they still had after pods repaired them, or the ragged old clothes Resistance members used to wear a lot.

For 9S, getting to pick his own clothes isn’t even the best part. The best part is seeing _2B_ wear all kinds of pretty clothes, and 9S finds himself buying her something new everytime he has business in the shopping district; sundresses being his personal favorite type of clothing to get for 2B. Of course, he was able to grant his wish of buying her a T-shirt too, multiple times.

While clothes are fun, maintaining them is not really something he particularly enjoys.

”Washing clothes is pretty boring, huh?”

9S thinks out loud, lazily scrubbing one of his shirts against the washing board. 2B doesn’t turn to look at him, focusing on washing one of her many sundresses with admirable vigor.

“It’ll go faster if we focus.”

Maybe he should try to build a washing machine one of these days. Or maybe they shouldn’t buy more clothes in a while. Their lack of enthusiasm to wash the clothes usually ends up with them procrastinating the chore until they end up like this: washing almost the entirety of their wardrobe in one go by the river.

“I guess…”

9S’ arms are starting to ache from all the scrubbing, and his interest in the activity is long gone. He glances at the soapy foam in his bucket, then at 2B.

Done with the dress, she rinses it in the river before putting it in the basket for clean clothes and picks one of her T-shirts to wash next. 2B is good at hiding her exhaustion and boredom to the point where 9S sometimes wonders if the B-models (or E) were programmed purposely in that way for combat purposes. Many animals at the lower tiers of the food chain tend to hide their disabilities and illness as long as possible so that their predators wouldn’t see them as an easy meal. Maybe it’s something similar to that.

Thankfully, his years with 2B have taught 9S how to see through her façade. Her lips drawn into a thin line and the way her eyes are trained on the shirt she’s washing while looking visibly unfocused at the same time is all the information 9S needs to determine that 2B needs a break too.

With a smile, 9S dips his fingers into the foam, picking up a small amount of it, and reaches out to place it on top of unsuspecting 2B’s nose.

Her eyes cross to watch the offending bubbles on her face, which 9S finds incredibly precious.

She then turns to shoot a playful glare at him, her lips are twitching upwards.

Without a word, she grabs a handful of foam from her own bucket and throws it at his face.

9S laughs light-heartedly at the attack he kind of saw coming, throwing some more foam her way and watching it get stuck in her hair.

2B does not like losing, so she quickly gathers a big pile of foam in the middle of her bucket and lifts it out with both of her hands before she spreads it all over 9S’ face. 9S doesn’t even bother trying to get away and lets his wife have her way with him.

“Happy now?” he asks with a smile, pieces of the bubble foam flying away from his mouth as he speaks.

He moves the bubbles out of his face to look at 2B, who nods with a smile, and is hit with an idea that might make her smile even more.

“Hold on, I just thought of something! Turn around.”

2B eyes him suspiciously. “… No.”

“Huh? Why not?”

“You’re planning something. I won’t let you catch me off-guard.”

Right. 9S wasn’t planning on throwing any more of the foam at her, but he can see why she’d think that.

“Twoo beee… Fine, I’ll turn around, hold on a sec.”

He turns around to hide his face from 2B who – based on the rustling – lies down on the grass while she waits him to do his thing.

9S carefully gathers all the foam on his face to mold it into a long beard. Finished with his masterpiece, he slowly and carefully turns around, making sure that none of the bubbles fall out of place because of sudden movements.

“Ta-da! Look how long it is! Do I look old yet?” he gestures proudly at the long bubble beard that reaches all the way down to his chest. 2B snorts at him, her smile wide with amusement.

“You’re a dork.”

He’ll be whatever she wants him to be, as long as it makes her smile.

“ _Your_ dork.”


	22. Reminiscing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one is a continuation to another one-shot in this collection c:

Yeah. This is where we first met, remember?”

“Yeah but… it didn’t look like this back then.”

The platform at the far end of the old factory is decorated with more lights than 2B had ever seen; chains of lightbulbs of different sizes and colors around than above them, flowers both real and melded out of metal of different sizes placed around the area illuminated by the lights.

9S chuckles nervously. “Y-yeah… Um, I have something to tell you, if that’s okay.”

2B gives him a small smile. “That’s why you brought me here, right?”

“R-right.”

Visibly nervous, 9S takes her hand in his, leading them to the middle of the platform. 2B looks around them, admiring all the pretty lights and decorations and wondering where they came from. She doesn’t ask that though, as she believes that 9S will explain it to her in a moment.

9S clears his throat before he starts talking, his gaze flickering between her and their surroundings.

“I… I don’t remember much from we first met, honestly. I only managed to back up a minute or two after our initial meeting here. My first impression of you was actually that you were kind of a cold person—no offense!”

2B nods, no offence taken even if it’s not what she was expecting 9S was going to talk about. That’s what she was going for back in those days anyway.

“But… I remember that I felt drawn to you, right from the moment I first saw you. That there was something familiar, something special about you I had never felt from anyone else before. Of course, back in that day I had no idea what it meant but now… I know it must have been some remainder of what the earlier versions of me felt for you.”

2B’s hand tightens around his, and 9S squeezes it back comfortingly with a soft smile.

“Then I got to meet you again in the Bunker, and you complimented my voice and told me not to call you ma’am… A person like that couldn’t possibly be someone cold after all, I thought. Now that I think about it, that was probably the moment I fell in love with you.”

“Nines…” she whispers, embarrassed. How he can use words like ‘love’ like it’s no big deal, she may never know.

“I really enjoyed being with you. Even after I realized you were an E-type and that you were probably going to kill me at some point. I just… You started to feel like family to me. I decided I wanted to be with you forever – or at least as long as I was allowed to – and that hasn’t changed.”

2B watches as 9S lets go of her hand and takes a step back from her. His hand reaches into his pocket and he takes out something. With a slightly shaking hand, 9S holds up a ring for 2B to see, face glowing pink.

The ring looks very similar to the one she gave him just earlier, except that it looks slightly slimmer and it also has a small, transparent jewel sparkling in the middle.

“I-I was really surprised to see you found a ring for me too, actually. I’ve been planning this for a couple of weeks now and for a second I thought you beat me to it,” he laughs quietly while looking at the ring he’s holding.

“Beat you to what?”

With a deep breath, 9S lifts his gaze to look directly into her eyes.

“2B. Do you know about marriage?”

2B blinks and thinks for a moment.

“It had something to do with lovers, right?”

9S nods with a smile. “That’s right. Humans would get married to the person they loved dearly enough to start a family with, swearing to stay together and love each other for the rest of their lives. Usually that ended up with the married couple having children too eventually, but that wasn’t a necessity or anything, the married couple would still be considered to be each other’s family in the eyes of the society,” 9S shakes his head, realizing he’s rambling on a bit more than he meant to, “And…”

9S then gets down on one knee in front of her, smiling the sweet smile he reserves for 2B only, even if he still looks a little nervous.

“And… in some traditions humans would get on one knee and present a ring to ask for their lover’s hand in marriage.”

2B’s mouth forms a small ‘o’ as she catches on to what 9S is trying to tell her, her black box getting loud enough that she wonders if he can hear it too, heat spreading all over her body as anticipation of what’s to come fills her mind to the point she can’t see or hear anything else but 9S and her own annoying black box.

“2B, will you marry me?”

A tear escapes her eye far faster than she can get any words out. Instead she nods, smiling so wide it hurts her cheeks as she falls on her knees to wrap her arms around him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I also wanna mention that there's a good chance prompts starting from 24th might get delayed because of Christmas and school work, but I'll post the rest too as soon as I can :)


	23. Promises

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I missed the deadline by 10 minutes but oh well.

”Gah!”

2B hears 9S exclaim from behind her, and she quickly turns around just to see him fall on the ground.

“Nines?!” She rushes to his side, helping him to sit up. At least he managed to protect his face with his arms when he fell and it doesn’t look like he sustained any injury from the fall, even if his clothes got a bit of dirt on them now.

“I’m fine, don’t worry,” 9S is quick to reassure her with a smile and 2B lets out a sigh of relief.

“What happened? Did you trip over something?”

“No, it’s not that...” 9S stops to poke at several points on his right leg, his brows knitting together momentarily before he puts on a smile again. “It seems like my right leg stopped working, that’s all.”

That doesn’t sound ‘fine’ at all, if you ask 2B.

“Haven’t you been doing your own maintenance regularly?”

“I have. It’s just… most materials don’t last forever, you know. The wiring probably wore out after all this time and the leg got disconnected. It had been a bit stiff for a while, but I was hoping it would hold out a little while longer.”

2B frowns, and upon noticing it, 9S quickly adds, “But this is nothing getting a new leg won’t fix! So there’s no need to worry, 2B.”

A new leg. This will be the first time either one of them has to replace a part of themselves and the thought of it is conflicting, to say the least. 2B remembers the android from the Resistance camp, one of the first ones they ever interacted with, and how he refused to replace his faulty leg as it was the last part of his original build.

“Our bodies won’t last forever, huh…” 9S says out loud what 2B was circling around in her mind, staring at his leg while running his hand across the knee that would never function again.

They stay like that for a while; sitting on the grass, their eyes on his doomed leg as they think about everything that is yet to come.

Now it’s just his right leg. Within a few months, the left one will most likely follow, considering he does use both of them just as much. 2B’s parts most likely will begin to cease function too, one by one. They can replace the parts with something that serves the purpose and the appearance well enough, even if the new parts won’t necessarily be entirely identical to their original YoRHa ones.

However, their black boxes aren't eternal either. Other body parts are fairly easy to fix, but they don’t have the necessary knowledge or the equipment to recreate a new black box. Even if they could, the thought of using machine’s life force to prolong their own doesn’t sit right with them, not anymore.

2B picks up 9S in her arms, holding him close to her as their make their way to the city to ask if someone there would be willing to craft a specially made leg that would fit 9S’ frame naturally.

“2B?”

“Hmm?”

“Do you think androids have souls?”

She glances down at him. 9S isn’t looking at her, but somewhere far, as if he was somewhere else than in the here and now in her arms, his expression unreadable.

“I don’t know,” she answers honestly. The soft sound of her footsteps against the ground and the gentle breeze fill their ears as silence falls over them once again for several minutes.

“Hey, 2B?” 9S is the one to break the silence again.

“Hmm?”

“These bodies won’t last forever. Our black boxes will eventually run out of power and that will be he end for us. That is, if were lucky and nothing happens before that.”

The arms holding 9S in her arms tighten around him protectively as 2B looks straight forward, unable to look at him when he talks about something that heavy.

“But… If we _do_ have souls, or even something similar to one… Then maybe we can be born again somewhere else, some other time, even if these artificial bodies of our eventually perish away.”

9S’ finger reaches up to wipe some wetness off her cheek and she finally dares to look at him again.

He’s smiling at her, expression so gentle and serene that old pictures of holy creatures humans used to call ‘angels’ flash through her mind.

He is so beautiful and 2B’s entire being is filled with want to protect him, to keep him exactly the way he is, even if though she knows it’s impossible and not even beneficial.

“I feel like maybe we do have souls. So, please don’t be sad, 2B. Even if we can’t be together for the eternity in the bodies we have now,” 9S wiggles in her arms to wrap his arms around her neck in a gentle embrace before continuing, his mouth against her ear and his voice soft.

“I promise I will always find you, no matter where, or when, or how many times we’re reborn.”

2B holds him tight, and eagerly nods against the crook of his neck. “I promise to find you too,” she whispers back, her voice wavering just a little.

Perhaps eternity together is too much to ask from the gods, but if they pray hard enough, maybe the gods will allow them to meet again once their time in this world runs out.

 _… Still_ , 2B thinks, _hopefully all of that is a long way down the road._

9S suddenly pulls back, his eyes sparkling with sudden inspiration.

“Ooh, do you think I could install a jet into my new leg? You know, the kind Pascal has? I could fly us to places!”

2B snorts. Seems like she still has plenty of other things to worry about right here, right now.

The future can wait, now she has to make sure 9S doesn’t get himself untimely killed by crazy ideas.


	24. Letters

”How do you… How are you able to say things like that so easy?”

“You mean things like ‘I love you’?”

2B nods, looking down at her toes with a hint of a blush on her cheeks.

“Because I love you a lot and it makes me happy to tell you,” 9S answers with a wide smile, which only seems to make 2B even more embarrassed. “Why do you ask?”

2B bites her lip as she searches for words.

“… I-I feel those same things but… I don’t know. It’s just difficult to say it out loud. My pulse rate seems to rise uncomfortably, and I feel like I’m going to overheat whenever I try, and I end up just… not saying anything.”

9S smiles softly as he places his hand on her shoulder.

“I know how you feel about me, 2B. You don’t have to push yourself.”

She smiles back but it doesn’t quite reach her eyes and she continues.

“But I _want_ to be able to tell you those things. I… I just don’t know how to get better at it.”

9S has to resist the urge to wrap his arms around 2B a squeeze as hard as he can. How can someone possibly be this endearing? 

Instead, he distracts himself by tapping a finger against his chin while he tries to think of a way to help her.

“How about you start with writing?”

2B turns to look at him, cocking her head. “Writing?”

“If saying things out loud is too much, maybe it would be easier to start from writing something down? You could write me letter of things you want to say but find hard to—Or if that’s difficult, you can start out by writing things you’re comfortable speaking out loud too to help you get into writing.”

After mulling over his words with a thoughtful expression, 2B agrees, even if she still looks a bit unsure.

“… Maybe. Do you have paper?”

9S nods and walks to one of the shelves of the room, picking the nicest empty piece of paper he can find, a feather pen and some ink and sets them down on the table in the middle of the room.

“These will get you started.”

“Thank you… Can you go outside for a while?”

Amused, 9S replies with a quick “sure” and heads for the door.

“I’ll be back in an hour?”

“Okay.”

He sees 2B sit down on the floor in front of the table before he closes the door.

_____

An hour has never felt this long to 9S, but he doesn’t even mind as he walks around the city with a skip in step and a persistent smile on his face, kicking an occasional stray rock for fun as he entertains himself by imagining what 2B is going to write him.

_ Compliments? She does say “Me too” every time I say her eyes are beautiful, maybe she’ll write something about my eyes? Or maybe there’s something she wants to do together but is too nervous to ask? She’s extra awkward and shy when it comes to talking about… _

9S shakes his head to himself to both in denial and to clear his head from the flooding images.

_ There’s no way she’d go so bold in her first ever letter to me. Knowing 2B, she’ll start from something simple. She might just write about her day for all I know, or maybe about her favorite fish or flower. Shouldn’t get my hopes too high up. _

Although there’s no risk he will be disappointed by her letter either, no matter what’s written on it. It’s still a letter from _2B._ That alone is enough for the letter to qualify as a treasure for 9S to cherish forever.

9S is behind the door to their room exactly on time, not wanting to delay getting 2B's letter by even a second. He knocks before turning the doorknob to make sure 2B won’t be startled by his arrival in case she’s still in the middle of writing.

“I’m baaack. Can I come i— 2B?” 9S opens the door enough to peek inside, only to find 2B isn't there.

“That’s strange. Where did she go?” he wonders out loud as he walks in, looking around him to see if anything in the room would give him an indication as to where she had disappeared off to while he was on his walk. Unprompted, Pod 153 supplies him with information that 2B has gone out fishing (according to Pod 042).

_ At least she’s okay _ , he thinks, fighting off the disappointment of not seeing his favorite person in the world like he was expecting to. He was really looking forward to the letter too.

The disappointment is quickly replaced by piqued curiosity when he spots a small, folded piece of paper on the table.

“Oh?”

A closer look reveals the “To 9S” written on top in very clear handwriting.

9S smiles excitedly and he picks up what seems to be 2B’s letter for him, handling the old piece of paper with great care to make sure he doesn’t damage it any way. 2B probably left because she didn’t want to watch him read it, which is no wonder. Watching him read her letter would probably be even more embarrassing and make her far more nervous than saying the same things directly to him ever would.

Despite being a hardened soldier, she sure gets nervous easy sometimes. It’s endearing, really.

When 9S unfolds the letter to see what 2B had written for him, for a split second he’s surprised to see how _short_ it is. However, the surprise is short-lived as immediately after his mind registers the words written on the paper, a tidal wave of warmth washes over his entire body and fills him with a mix of endearment, joy and embarrassment, leaving no room for anything else.

_ ‘I’m always happy when I’m with you.’ _

_ Aah.  _ Slowly, he brings a hand up to bury his burning face into his palm, suddenly relieved that 2B isn’t there to watch him completely lose his composure over such a simple sentence.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> After that, 9S occasionally finds another letter in the room when 2B's out somewhere else. The letters are always short and sweet, such as "I think you are beautiful", "Your eyes are pretty" and, of course, "I love you." 9S keeps them all in a fireproof box on one of the shelves.
> 
> Boy, is he in trouble when 2B gets the confidence to shower him with sweet words non-stop.


	25. Dancing

Nothing really brings joy like a wedding. All the androids at the Resistance camp celebrate the happy couple with music, laughter and _lots_ of booze. It’s a welcome change of pace during these tough times, and for them, a sweet chance to feel like they belong when everyone is too busy enjoying themselves to pay attention to them.

“Popola, want more?” Devola says, already pouring her homemade booze into her cup.

“No, I’m good. I don’t want to overdo it.”

Devola gives her a smirk and chugs down the contents of the cup she had just poured for Popola before going for her own drink too. Popola smiles helplessly at her sister before turning to the two YoRHa androids sitting on a bench next to theirs.

“What about you two? Do you want some more?”

They share a quick look before shaking their heads, almost in unison. _How cute._

“Let me know if you change your mind then. Preferably before Devola here drinks all of it.”

“I wouldn’t have to drink it all by myself if you helped me, you know!”

“And you know very well that I out of all people here shouldn’t overindulge. Besides, who’s going to take care of you if we both get drunk?”

Devola tries to argue back, but her voice is drowned out by the sudden change in the volume of the music as someone changes the quiet background music into a lively folksong. Several androids cheer as the newly wedded couple walks to the middle of the camp and begin to dance together with wide smiles.

It doesn’t take long for other pairs of androids to join the happy couple, and soon nearly half of the camp is dancing.

Popola claps along to the music with a smile and glances over at their guests. 9S and 2B look equally confused about the sudden dance event, and Popola wonders if they even know what dancing means. She can’t imagine there being enough room in their Bunker to dance around in. Based on how stiff most of the YoRHa she’s met have been, she guesses their schedules don’t give them much downtime to participate in activities like that in the first place.

After a few seconds, Popola sees 9S steal a quick glance at 2B’s direction before he looks back at the crowd. Popola smirks to herself. 9S is so transparent when it comes to his affection towards his partner, especially now that his goggles are not there to hide his expression or where his eyes are wandering.

His lips draw into a thin line as he’s obviously conflicted about something, and Popola might have an idea what he’s thinking about.

In a slightly more surprising twist of events, 2B imitates him a few seconds later; her eyes glance at 9S for a moment before quickly averting her eyes, and her grip on the wooden bench they’re sitting on seems to tighten a tad.

These two are really hopeless, huh…

“Devola?” she whispers, and her sister turns to look at her with a knowing smile and settles down her cup. Seems like Popola wasn’t the only one who thought the two could need some help.

“I’ll take 2B, you take 9S.”

“Got it.”

They spring up from their seats simultaneously and they each quickly grab an unsuspecting android by the arm.

“Po-Popola?!” 9S yelps as Popola quickly leads him towards an open spot where they’ll have room to move around comfortably in. She sees Devola settling on a spot a few meters away from them.

“We’re going to dance, 9S,” she explains him with a mischievous smile. It doesn’t seem to ease his confusion in the slightest as he watches her with wide eyes.

“Dance?”

She places one of 9S’ hand on her hip and holds the other one in hers. Placing her other hand on his shoulder, Popola wastes no time as she begins to sway them around to the rhythm. 9S puts the two and two together and does his best to mimic her movements. He steps on her toes here and there, and blushes profusely when he accidentally bumps into her. “Sorry!” he says, nervously looking to his side where 2B is being swayed around in a similar fashion by Devola. Popola chuckles at him good-heartedly, wondering which one of them he’s really apologizing to.

“Don’t worry, you’ll get her in a minute if you focus.”

“Wh-wha—?!” turning him around so that he can’t see 2B, Popola forces him to focus on his steps again.

Seems like he’s a fast learner, at least. After a couple of minutes of looking at other dancers and imitating Popola’s movements, 9S’ steps become more confident and a tentative smile reaches his lips.

“You’re doing great.”

Her compliment seems to boost his confidence and mood even further.

“Thanks! It’s actually pretty fun!” he tells back, smiling wider, the anxiousness and confusion in his eyes long gone, replaced with excitement as they sway and hop around to the music. She nods to herself.

He’s ready.

Popola looks over at Devola. As if sensing her gaze, her sister turns to meet her eyes a second later and nods with a grin.

Popola leads them a bit closer towards Devola and 2B, making sure to keep 9S’ back towards the two women.

She then surprises him by grabbing his hand on her waist and pulling him flush against her, making him immediately go from happy to nervous again.

Giving him her gentlest smile, Popola whispers, “Good luck,” before forcing him to spin away from her, releasing her hands.

2B and 9S meet half-way, nearly colliding each other but managing to hold on to each other’s shoulders right before they crash. It was a close call though; their faces are only an inch apart as the two androids look at each other with wide eyes.

“No need to be shy, go ahead and dance!” Devola cheers them on with a smirk as she walks to stand next to Popola.

2B and 9S move apart to a more comfortable distance and – with nervous smiles – the two begin to move together to the rhythm, their hands looking like they’re almost hovering instead of holding each other. It’s almost painful to watch their dance at first as the two keep bumping into each other and stepping on each other’s toes, unable to even look at each other as they both focus on trying to synchronize their steps. After a minute, they seem to fall into a rhythm that suits them, allowing them to look at each other more and more instead of their feet.

“Wanna go sit down or do you want to dance too?”

She laughs. “I think I might need a break, ask me later.”

As time passes on, the more comfortable and confident the two grow around each other. 9S drinks in 2B’s smiles he gets visibly more confident, moving the hand that at first tentatively rested on her side to boldly place it on the small of her back, pulling her closer to him. 2B doesn’t seem to mind, her eye contact with 9S never wavering as she smiles. Her smile is beautiful, and Popola realizes this might be the first time she’s ever seen it.

9S must be really special to bring it out like this.

The better they get at dancing with each other, the worse they seem to get at considering their surroundings. The smiling duo accidentally bump into another couple, the other couple nearly falling on the ground before they catch themselves. 9S hurriedly apologizes to the two, but meanwhile something about the situation seems to cut the last thread of her stoic façade as 2B begins to laugh.

That must have been a first, since 9S instantly stops talking, his mouth gaping slightly as he stares at 2B with a heavy blush on his cheeks. Popola snorts at his reaction. The boy has it _bad_.

The song changes then and in an instant, their moment is over. A slow, romantic sound of the violin replaces the folk instruments, and the YoRHa androids look around to see the couples change their dancing accordingly. They stand still there at the corner of the unofficial dancing area, their smiles gone as they look lost.

 _You can do it!_ Popola cheers them on in her mind, hoping that at least one of the two will have the courage to take the chance.

Sadly, standing there while everyone else is dancing is too much for 2B to handle, and Popola watches as she takes a step to move back towards to their old seats. _Oh we—_

She blinks in surprise when 9S quickly grabs 2B’s hand, his eyes pleading as he looks up at her with his face flushed pink. He says something, too quiet for Popola to hear. 2B replies to his words a nod, a soft smile returning to her lips as they gravitate towards each other yet again and begin to imitate the way the others are dancing around them; bodies nearly pressing against one another as they gently sway to the music.

“Looks like we’ll get another wedding around here sometime in the future,” Devola comments on the sight next to her, softness and amusement pairing together in her voice as she pours them new cups of booze.

“I hope so,” Popola agrees with a smile, accepting the drink Devola offers her. The dancing took away her little buzz anyway.

Devola raises her cup towards her with a smirk. “To weddings.”

Popola nods with a wide smile. “To weddings!”

They clink their cups together and finish their drinks in one go before they resume watching all the dancing androids. Some of the pairs are already married, some of them are flirting, some looking like they might be falling in love as they dance to the sound of the violin.

Her eyes land on 2B and 9S again, who stick out of the crowd like a weed through concrete with their snow-white hair and black YoRHa clothing. They are dancing even closer to each other than before, 2B’s forehead resting against the shorter android’s, arms wrapped around his neck while his are wrapped around her waist to hold her close. Their soft eyes and smiles filled with so much love and adoration for one another that Popola can only think of a handful of times she’s seen something like that over the course of her lifetime.

Just seeing it from outside makes her chest fuzzy with warmth, or maybe it’s the booze.

With happy smile, Popola turns her eyes away, not wanting to intrude on their private moment more than she already has. She grabs the bottle to pour her and her sister new drinks and quietly toasts towards the direction of the two.

_Looks like the wedding might come even sooner than I originally thought._


	26. Clothing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for over 3,000 hits! This prompt is long overdue, but I hope you enjoy it regardless!

The corner of the city is buzzing with androids and machines alike when the long-awaited shopping district finally has its grand opening. Many artisans had been working hard over the last few months into making wares to sell, and it shows. Individual stalls all had something interesting up for sale, be it useful items such as tools and repair materials, but also items meant purely for enjoyment, such as instruments, paintings, even novels, and – what 9S was most excited about – a great variety of different types of clothing.

His eyes shine as 2B and 9S walk around the district, hand in hand, browsing their options.

“Ooh, 2B, look! They have some dresses over there! And shoes! I know I promised to buy you a T-shirt, but if you want something else that’s totally okay too!”

2B can’t help but smile at his enthusiasm and she finds herself holding his hand just a little bit tighter, as if to make sure he doesn’t run off without thinking at the sight of something exciting. Or maybe she’s doing it simply because he’s cute like this and she wants to hold him closer.

“I can try a dress later. Let’s focus on finding a T-shirt first. That was the promise, right?”

9S’ smile lights up the entire district.

_____

Shopping is… surprisingly exhausting.

2B comes to that conclusion after they leave their third store. She tried on several shirts, pants, skirts, dresses, and some other types of clothes she doesn’t even remember the names of. She wasn’t even really all too interested in most of them. They’re all just clothes in the end, just in slightly different shapes and colors. 9S seems excited to see her wear anything really, which just makes the whole ordeal more difficult in her opinion. She’d rather 9S picked something that _he_ liked on her, but he’s insisting that the T-shirt he buys for her to be something she enjoys. The problem is, she has no idea. Does her programming even allow her to have preferences over clothing? She considered bluffing her way out of it by choosing something 9S seemed particularly enthusiastic about, but it's hard to tell when he's so excited about pretty much anything on her. 

Not to mention he would probably be able to call her out on it immediately. Apparently lying is not something she's very talented at.

If only she could figure out what she likes...

After a while 9S (inevitably) gets distracted by other stalls and they drift apart in the crowd, but 2B glances over her shoulder every couple of minutes to make sure he’s still within her eyesight. Now, 9S is busying himself by browsing… scarves? Pashminas? She’s not all too sure what those _neck-clothes_ are called, but he looks intrigued as he talks to the shopkeeper and 2B figures he’ll be stuck in that spot for a couple of minutes at least.

2B returns to the task at hand and goes through some T-shirts at yet another stall, skimming through piles of shirts for anything even remotely interesting when something catches her eye.

“Is that… a lunar tear?” she whispers to herself as she graces her fingers on the fabric of the shirt.

“Oh, you’re familiar with lunar tears? Pretty rare to find one these days,” the female android managing the stall speaks up, causing 2B to widen her eyes for a second in surprise. She hadn’t meant for anyone to hear her.

The woman looks at her expectantly, and 2B mumbles out, “It’s very beautiful,” her voice barely any louder than what it was when she thought she was talking to herself. Small-talk isn’t her strongest suit either.

'Beautiful' might be undermining the shirt though. The base color is black like her YoRHa uniform, maybe even darker, and somehow this person had managed to capture the delicate shape and the radiant glow of a lunar tear with some white paint and undeniable artistic skill on the fabric.

“Thank you so much!” the woman gives 2B a wide smile. “Do you want to order one?”

“Oh, is this a sample?” 2B asks while picking up the shirt to hold it against her upper body to gauge the size.

“Yeah, sorry! It’s kind of small, and doesn’t account for bust, so it might not fit right on you. Buuut I can make one that will fit you _perfectly_. It shouldn’t take more than a couple of days tops if you order now.”

“I see…”

It’s the prettiest piece of clothing 2B has seen today, that’s for sure. Possibly the most beautiful piece of clothing she’s ever seen. She wouldn’t mind having one of her own, but…

It would look _great_ on 9S.

Lunar tears always remind 2B of him, and this shirt would most definitely bring out the gorgeous white shade of his hair and the blue in his eyes.

“I’m sorry, is there a chance you could sell this one to me? I think it would fit my…”

Friend? Partner? Lover? 2B's voice dies in her throat and she glances towards 9S’ direction while she struggles to find the right word to describe whatever their relationship is now. He’s moved on to a jewelry stall next to the earlier one, chatting with the owner about the different rocks and whatnot based on the few words she catches through the noise of the bustling crowd.

The shopkeeper seems to follow 2B’s gaze and hums understandingly, nodding in agreement.

“Oh, I see. I think it would fit him rather well! Black and white look like his colors too! That being said, I would like to keep the sample here to see if I can get more orders, but… hmm.”

The shopkeeper looks pensively at the shirt for a moment.

“How about I’ll sell it to you if you also order another one of these for yourself for a little extra?”

2B nods eagerly and smiles. “Yes, that would be great!”

The shopkeeper gives her the total price of the shirt and the order. 2B pays up immediately with zero attempts at bargaining, and after telling the shopkeeper her measurements and settling on a pick-up time, she rushes off to 9S with the freshly acquired shirt.

“Nines! I found a shirt!”

“Oh, that’s great!” 9S turns to face her with a wide smile, the jewelry he was admiring just a second ago long forgotten. However, his expression quickly turns into a small frown when he notices the folded piece of clothing in her arms. “Wait, hold on – did you buy it yourself? I was supposed to do that…”

Ah. Right.

“No—I mean, yes, I did buy it, but I got it for you. Here.”

Wanting to change that pout back into a smile, 2B fumbles over her words a little trying to explain herself and shoves the shirt towards 9S. It worked to some extend – she doesn’t get a smile yet but the frown is replaced with a look of surprise, his blue eyes wide (and pretty) as he accepts the offered shirt.

“For me? You didn’t have to get me anything, I’m the one who promised to get _you_ a shirt.”

“I know, but I saw it and I thought it would look… nice on you.”

Her voice quiets down towards the end, but 9S doesn’t seem to mind. He breaks finally breaks into a smile so warm she might melt, followed by a quiet chuckle.

“You’re so adorable, you know that?”

Not waiting for her reaction to the compliment, 9S eagerly unfolds the shirt to get a closer look at what 2B had picked out for him. His mouth opens in awe immediately.

“Ooh, this is amazing! And it looks like it should be a good fit too. I didn’t expect that since most of the people here are making the clothes to fit the taller resistance androids.”

2B watches him admire the shirt with sparkling eyes, smiling to herself. Best purchase she’s ever made.

After a moment of admiring the intricacies of the artwork, 9S gives a small sigh. “But still, I really wanted to buy you one first… I would’ve loved to buy something like this for you.”

2B shifts on her feet. “About that… I did order one for me too.”

Not sure what to expect but hoping that 9S wouldn’t be too disappointed that she did, in fact, technically buy a T-shirt for herself, 2B waits for his reaction while she looks over at the jewelry, avoiding his gaze half-subconsciously. 

“… You mean you... ordered a matching one?”

“It will have the same pattern, yes.”

9S is quiet for a few seconds, before breaking into a wide smile.

“Oh well, what is done, is done,” 9S says suddenly in a sing-song tone, taking 2B’s hand into his and pulling her along.

“Nines, where are we going?” 2B asks, confused by his reaction but relieved to see that 9S seems happy at least.

“Home.”

“You sure? I thought you still wanted to buy a T-shirt.”

“Yeah, I do,” he agrees, an innocent smile adorning his face as he leads towards the exit of the shopping district, “but this trip already exceeded all my expectations. So…”

9S glances at her, the look in his eyes letting her know his smile is most definitely not as innocent as she had initially thought. He stops walking for a moment once they're safely out of the crowd and leans closer.

“Now I just want to go home and show you just _how_ grateful I am for this little gift of yours,” he purrs into 2B’s ear before tugging her along again, half-jogging towards the general direction of their own little home while 2B feels her internal heat levels rising in anticipation.

_… Definitely the best purchase she’s ever made._


	27. In Nature

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Winter wonderland and northern lights.

It’s _cold_.

2B knows there are some androids that were built to handle colder climates, but she is not one of those. The fur coats 9S had insisted on purchasing from a village several hundred kilometers from here definitely did help fighting the freezing air and snow. Without them, they would most likely freeze to death; their internal heat generators would have to work excessively to keep them functioning in this temperature which in turn might result in their circuits shortcutting. The pods are in rest mode for the duration of their trip here as a safety measure, tucked away in their backpacks. They don’t generate as much heat as androids do, and while Pod 042 told them it should be alright, 2B and 9S weren’t willing to take any risks.

“Nines, why are we here again?”

“The sky.”

“… The sky is the same in warmer places too.”

9S laughs quietly, not losing a smidge of his enthusiasm at her thinly veiled complaint as he trudges on in the glimmering snow that almost reaches his knees. His legs sink into the snow that was nearly knee deep for him with each step, the snow crunching under his boots. 2B follows him close behind.

“Well, the stars are mostly the same I would say. But there’s something special about the sky here sometimes that I’m hoping to show you.”

He turns around to look at 2B with a smile. “I think we should be at a good location now. Want to make a little snow hut and warm up with a fire while we wait?”

2B nods, not sure what she’s waiting for, but she likes the sound of a fire.

_____

They settle on making the snow hut in the middle of a clearing. Being out in the middle of an open area like this makes 2B a bit uncomfortable, but 9S insists that the view (of the sky, she’s guessing) is better here than in the pine forest. There aren’t any threats in these parts so 2B trusts 9S’ judgement. This whole trip was his idea after all.

They make simple walls out of the snow and clear the snow from the inside so they can place warm pelts on the ground level without having to sink into the snow. Cutting down a small tree to get some logs isn’t too much work with their strength and tools, and within an hour they’re settled in by the warm fire.

Their little makeshift snow building has a hole on top, allowing the smoke to escape and for them to keep their eyes on the sky. The snow they melt over the fire tastes a bit different than any other water 2B’s had, but she doesn’t dislike it.

9S is surprisingly quiet as he stares up at the sky, already sitting on the pelt they settled on the ground. She would be worried, if it weren’t for the fact that he’s obviously keeping something for her because he wants to surprise her somehow. 2B follows his gaze, and while the stars are beautiful, even more so than from the Bunker, she can’t see what’s so special about this particular place.

“… Nines, I can’t see how the sky here is any different.”

“Well, right now it isn’t. But it will be, sooner or later.” He lowers his gaze from the sky to give 2B a smile and pats the fur pelt next to him, encouraging her to sit down. “You can sleep for a while if you want, I’ll keep watch.”

… It _has_ been a long trip. 2B plops down next to him and can’t help but smile when she feels his arm wrap around her shoulder, sharing his warm fur with her. 2B smiles and inches closer to him, feeling 9S’ body heat warming up her body and soul.

She falls asleep watching the flames and admiring the way the snow walls surrounding them sparkle in the light.

_____

“2B… 2B, wake up. It’s happening! Look!”

2B wakes up to 9S gently shaking her shoulder and tiredly blinks her eyes. The fire in the middle has grown weak, but she’s surprisingly warm snuggled up to him like this.

“Look! The sky!” 9S points his finger up, sounding like he’s almost out of breath from sheer excitement.

2B’s eyes follow his finger and what she sees makes her gasp quietly and wonder for a second if the sky was on fire.

What looks like giant walls of light dance across the sky, lighting up their surroundings in this forsaken land of cold and night in illuminous shades of green. The lights move slowly, slithering like snakes. It almost looks as if the lights are conscious and that they were heading somewhere only they know, lighting up the night sky on their way.

“Woah… It’s even more amazing than what I was expecting…”

“It’s beautiful… It’s not dangerous, right?”

9S gives her a reassuring smile. “It’s safe. It’s called _aurora borealis_ , and it’s caused by the electrically charged particles, usually from solar winds, hitting the Earth’s atmosphere in the polar areas. It can cause complications with satellite and wireless radio signal and so on, but there isn’t anything we need to worry about. They might be the reason why YoRHa didn’t have any expeditions to these areas in the first place since the communication could’ve been compromised when they appear.”

“I see…”

_As long as it’s not dangerous._

Occasionally 2B sees flickers of purple and red above the gorgeous green. The lights occasionally flicker unpredictably on their journey.

“Where are they going?”

9S chuckles. “Who knows. Maybe they’re just having fun.”

2B smiles at that.

“Do you want to know what humans in this area used to think of them?”

2B nods and 9S takes s small breath before unleashing all the information he’s been keeping to himself this whole time.

“There were many different beliefs and names for the aurora. According to some grimmer beliefs, they were the blood of the people who were killed or murdered, and something to be treated with caution. Because of this some people even tried to hide from them, lest they get taken away by the vengeful dead from the other world. I think the aurora are beautiful, but I could see why some ancient civilizations would be afraid of something like this. Humans had a tendency to fear things they couldn’t understand, after all.”

2B agrees. She had felt a bit uneasy at the first glance too and she was much more well-equipped to deal with unknown threats than humans were.

9S continues, happy to share all his knowledge, “The Vikings thought that the aurora were born from the glimmering of the Valkyrian soldiers’ armor while some Finnic tribes in the area seemed to believe they were the gates to this dangerous Northern land called _Pohjola_. I doubt anyone tried to reach them with a folklore like that.”

2B raises her hand towards them absent-mindedly. They’re far, unreachable from the ground but they look to be much closer than the stars or the Moon. If they had their flight units, maybe they could try to see what they looked like from up closer.

She then remembers 9S mentioning that they could disturb signals and figures it might be best to just admire them from afar on even ground. The view is probably better right here at ground level anyway.

“But you know what might be my favorite belief about them?”

“What?

“Some people thought they were born from a fox’s tail swishing up snow towards the sky as it made its way through the snow, giving it the name _fox’s fires_ in one of the big languages in this area _._ ” 9S tells her with an excited tone full of wonder. “Isn’t it amazing how many stories human could come up with about the same natural phenomenon?”

2B smiles and brings her eyes down from the aurora to look at 9S. His eyes are glued to the sky, the glow of the green lights dancing lightly on his in the dark, and it reminds her of the fireworks at the Amusement park.

9S is always going out of his way to show her just how beautiful this world can be, and 2B loves him for that.

Her mitten-covered hand finds his. It’s warm. Even in this freezing place, everything about him is warm.

The physical contact brings his attention back to her. His cheeks and nose are a bit red because of the extra work his heating systems need to do to keep his facial mobility functions working. It’s cute, so and 2B leans in to give one of his rosy cheeks a small peck.

_Thank you for showing me this._

“You’re welcome,” 9S whispers before shifting around to face her. This time, he wraps both of his arms around her in a warm embrace, bringing them close together in what feels like their own little fur cocoon. Their smiling lips meet halfway.

_Warm._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I admit, I haven't gotten a great look at Northern lights ever, but to me personally they're the coolest thing that nature can make. Winter has also been really pretty here too so I wanted to share some of the winter wonderland spirit.
> 
> Not all of the facts are entirely correct necessarily, I used what I know + wikipedia and I focused on the lore in the Fennoscandia area (where they are visiting in my mind) rather than Inuit or native American tribes' folklore as I'm not as familiar with those.


End file.
